SANAA, 6 December 2006 — A man armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire at the US Embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa early yesterday, before he was shot and wounded by police guards, the Interior Ministry said.
In a brief statement, the ministry identified the man as Salim Mohammad Salim Alwan. It said he opened fire at the embassy at around 1:30 a.m. The statement said policemen returned fire and wounded the assailant. It did not give any details about his motives.
The statement said the man would be interrogated after he recovers in hospital.
Police officials said the attacker, 25, opened fire from an AK-47 rifle at the gate of the heavily guarded embassy compound, that also houses the residence of the US ambassador. Police guarding the embassy shot and wounded the man shortly after he opened fire at the embassy, the officials said.
The man was rushed to a nearby military hospital. The officials suggested that he was acting personally. “He is in critical condition and interrogators have not been able to question him yet,” one official said. “We believe he was acting alone.”
US diplomats and local embassy employees were asked by the embassy not to come to work yesterday.
A police officer outside the compound told Arab News that the assailant stepped out from a minibus and jumped over concrete blocks in front of the gate holding his rifle. The officer said the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he began to shoot at the embassy gate and guards.
Security forces closed a main road passing by the embassy compound and armored police vehicles were seen patrolling the vicinity yesterday. US diplomats were not immediately available for comment and the embassy did not return calls.
The attack comes two days after Yemeni state security prosecutors began questioning 22 suspected Al-Qaeda operatives who are believed to have been planning terror attacks against Western interests and vital installations in Yemen.
Authorities linked the group to the September suicide attacks on two oil facilities in northern and eastern Yemen.
Intelligence sources said that among the 22 suspects were four Al-Qaeda members. They were arrested in Sanaa four days after the oil attacks.
Four attackers and one security guard died when bombers drove four cars into two oil facilities in eastern Yemen on Sept. 15. The four pick-up trucks detonated inside the two facilities in the eastern provinces of Hadhramout and Marib.
An Al-Qaeda arm in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the September attacks and threatened to launch new attacks against US targets in the country.
The 22 men belong to a “dangerous terrorist cell” originally formed by Fawaz Al-Rabihi, a fugitive killed by security forces in October, the sources said.
