25 dead in raid of suicide bomber, gunmen

Orchestrated assaults deal latest blow to fragile situation in Yemen

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into Yemen's Defense Ministry on Thursday, allowing gunmen to launch an assault on the complex that left 25 people, including three foreign doctors, dead, officials said.

The attack on the sprawling complex follows a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition.

The attacks in the capital city of Sanaa and in the country's south have been blamed on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which Washington regards as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch.

"At least 25 people have been killed," said a security official, shortly after the Defense Ministry had put the death toll at 20.

Six doctors, including a Venezuelan and two from the Philippines, and three Yemenis, along with five patients, including a judge, were among the dead, medical sources said.

The victims were at a hospital that lies within the ministry's complex, which bore the brunt of the attack.

Local sources said the gunmen were either killed or captured.

"A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber forced its way into the western entrance of the ministry complex," a security official told AFP.

"It was followed by another car whose occupants opened fire at the complex of buildings," he said. The attack comes as Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser is heading a military delegation on a visit to the US.

The ministry said gunmen occupied the hospital after the explosion but security forces had regained control of the building.

A security source said another apparently coordinated attack had been launched and a gunfight was raging outside the complex in the early afternoon.

State television aired gory footage of torn-up bodies of what it said were suicide bombers, strewn in the hospital's yard amid charred vehicles. It also showed immense destruction within the hospital as well as floors stained with blood.

The channel broadcast appeals for blood donations at hospitals treating the wounded.

Plumes of smoke billowed across the ministry complex, situated on the edge of the Baba al-Yaman neighborhood, immediately after the blast and as a firefight erupted.

"I heard a series of explosions, and then an exchange of fire," a wounded soldier said.

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi visited the hospital where his 90-year-old brother, Ahmed, was apparently an inpatient.

He ordered a round-the-clock investigation into the attack, state television said.

Yemen has been going through a difficult political transition since veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted in February 2012 after a year of deadly protests against his 33-year rule.

The transition aims to culminate in a new constitution and pave the way for parliamentary and presidential elections slated for February, but it still faces many hurdles.

There are growing demands for the secession of the formerly independent south, in addition to on-again, off-again fighting in the far north between Shiite rebels and hard-line Sunnis.

A national dialogue that opened in March was originally due to close on Sept 18, but it is yet to conclude.

In an attempt to crack down on hit-and-run attacks, Yemeni authorities imposed a temporary ban on motorbikes in the capital last week to prevent shootings that have killed dozens of officials. Two gunmen on a bike killed a Belarusian defense contractor last week and wounded another as they left a Sanaa hotel.

AFP-Reuters

A burnt car sits at the site of a suicide car bombing at the Defense Ministry in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Thursday. Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 12/06/2013 page12)