The attack — the first such suicide bombing in the capital in a year — raised questions over the Yemeni government's US-backed campaign against Al-Qaeda militants, who have found a haven in parts of the nation where the central government's control is weak.
A British Embassy spokeswoman said Ambassador Timothy Torlot was unhurt in the attack, which wounded three bystanders, including a woman.
The ambassador's vehicle was passing through Sanaa’s Noqm district when the explosion went off. The blast ripped apart the bomber, and his head was found on the roof of a house about 20 meters away, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry identified the bomber as a 22-year old high school student who hails from the southern town of Taiz. Witnesses said the attacker was a young man who wore a school uniform. Yemeni officials said the attacker was believed to have been wearing an explosives belt, adding that the Noqm district is known to be a haunt of militants.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda. In March 2009, a similar attack was carried out against a convoy carrying South Korean officials in Yemen, though the blast by a man wearing an explosives belt caused no injuries. The officials had been sent to Yemen to investigate a bombing earlier in the week that killed four Korean tourists at a historical site outside the capital.
The Foreign Office in London said the British Embassy in Sanaa has been closed to the public and warned all British nationals in Yemen to “keep a low profile and remain vigilant.”
