Blast heard near US Embassy in Yemen, according to Al Arabya

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: Washington Post

<snip>

"Explosions and gunfire were heard on Wednesday near the heavily-fortified U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Arab television stations quoted witnesses as saying.

They gave no more details, but Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, has grappled with a spate of al Qaeda attacks this year, including one on the U.S. embassy, another near the Italian mission and others on Western tourists.

An al Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility in March for a mortar attack that missed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa but wounded 13 girls at a nearby school.

The United States ordered non-essential staff to leave Yemen in April, a day after an attack on a residential compound."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

I fear Iran is next

Oh and I can't spell this night

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. AP update

US Embassy in Yemen hit by car bomb
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago
SAN'A, Yemen - A U.S. spokesman says the American Embassy in Yemen was hit by a car bomb and that there were unspecified casualties.

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U.S. Embassy spokesman Ryan Gliha tells The Associated Press by telephone that there was a second explosion Wednesday that followed the initial one. He did not have figures for casualties or know their nationalities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen_us_embassy;_ylt=Ai1NPwLLTqUaXGBJs9e.PdNvaA8F

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. latest AP blast, same link 0:52 PST

A Yemeni security official said the embassy was hit by two car bombs and that heavy gunfire lasting around 10 minutes followed the blasts.

Several nearby homes were badly damaged by the blasts, he said, but had no information on whether the heavily guarded embassy sustained damage too. He said three of the embassy's guards were wounded, but he did not know their nationalities.

A medical official, meanwhile, said at least seven Yemeni nationals were wounded and taken to the city's Republican hospital. They are residents of a housing compound near the embassy and included children, he said.

Both the security and medical officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the media.