A car bomb blast and up to five additional explosions at the front gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen’s capital killed six Yemeni guards and four civilians Wednesday, officials said. No American personnel were reported injured.

The heavily fortified compound was hit by two car bombs, several other explosions that are being classified as “Secondary Explosions” and were followed by open gunfire from the streets that lasted approximately 10 minutes.

The Islamic Jihad of Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they did it as result of U.S.-Yemen ties and cooperation. The Islamic Jihad of Yemen is directly linked to Al Quaeda.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the loved ones of the Yemenis lost in today’s violence,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndrow said in a statement. “This attack is a reminder of the continuing threat we face from violent extremists both at home and abroad.”
“The embassy in Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, has been targeted by militants at least four times since 2003, most recently in March when mortar rounds crashed into a girls’ school next door, killing a Yemeni security guard and wounding more than a dozen girls.”
The most infamous attack against the United States in Yemen was the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole on October 12^th, 2000. In this bombing, 17 sailors were killed and many others injured. Many critics of the Cole Bombing have stated that it was our lack of retaliation after the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole that lead to the attack on the World Trade Centers, and Pentagon on September 11^th, 2001.
Al Quaeda has an active, and deeply embedded presence in Yemen, which is bound my Islamic Muslim law.
Other attacks by Al Quaeda in Yemen include:

The shooting of civilians in March of 2003, in which tens of thousands of demonstrators tried to storm the U.S. Embassy. Two civilians were killed, and dozens of others wounded.

In 2006 a sniper opened fire on U.S. personnel at the embassy, and was shot and killed by Yemeni police.

Tags: 9/11, Al Quaeda, Car Bomb, Cole Bombing, Embassy Bombing, Explosion at Embassy, Gordon Johndrow, Islamic Jihad of Yemen, Islamic Law, Muslim Law, September 11th, U.S. Embassy, U.S.S. Cole, Usama Bin Laden, Where is Yemen, Yemen, Yemen Bombing
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