SANAA: Yemen said yesterday it is holding six key suspects over a deadly attack on the US Embassy last week, including a militant who claimed responsibility for the strike.
“Security services succeeded in arresting six people, of whom some belong to Islamic Jihad, linked to Al-Qaeda and which claimed the attack,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
“One of these people answers to the name of Abu Ghaith Al-Yamani, who signed a statement claiming the attack,” the ministry added. It also announced the death of two people who were wounded in the Sept. 17 attack, taking the death toll to 18. According to the US State Department, one American woman died in the attack, along with her Yemeni husband.
The ministry said members of the cell had posted many statements on the Internet, sometimes in the name of Islamic Jihad and sometimes in the name of another group, “Committee of Virtue”.
The group was behind threats against other foreign embassies in Sanaa, including those of Saudi Arabia, Britain, the UAE and the Netherlands, it said.
The ministry said a total of 50 people in all have been arrested over the attack, in which six assailants were killed.
On Saturday, security services stepped up protection around foreign embassies in the Yemeni capital following the attack.
