British consulate in Yemen threatened after car bomb kills 16 outside U.S. embassy

Daily Mail ^ | September 17, 2008

[Schnucki]

The British embassy in Yemen has been threatened with attack after 16 people died when a car bomb exploded outside the American embassy this morning.

The heavily-fortified compound was on fire after the two explosions. Heavy gunfire was also heard and smoke seen rising from the compound, witnesses said. A Yemeni security source said 16 people including six attackers died in the attack. Four were bystanders.

A group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen took credibility for the attack. It also threatened that it would target the British, Saudi and Emirati missions in the Yemeni capital, according to a statement received by AFP.

Islamic Jihad has roots in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and is affiliated with Al Qaeda. The Egyptian branch was led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who merged it with Al Qaeda in 1998.

It had threatened in a previous statement on Tuesday to launch a series of attacks unless the Yemeni government met its demands for the release of several members from jail.

"We, the organisation of Islamic Jihad in Yemen declare our responsibility for the suicide attack on the American embassy in Sanaa," the statement read.

"We will carry out the rest of the series of attacks on the other embassies that were declared previously, until our demands are met by the Yemeni government."

Initial reports suggested the attackers, who were said to be dressed as soldiers, managed to get through numerous checkpoints on the road leading to the embassy.

Only when they reached the gate of the embassy did someone check their identity. At that point they detonated a bomb, opened gunfire on the compound and launched rocket-propelled grenades.

Yemeni officials were not immediately available to comment on the cause of the blasts or the number of casualties, but ambulances and fire engines rushed to the scene

[itsthejourney]

the attackers, who were said to be dressed as soldiers, managed to get through numerous checkpoints on the road leading to the embassy. Only when they reached the gate of the embassy did someone check their identity.

Wow, who'da thunk it in Yemen.

/s