Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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September 18, 2008

Yemen Arrests 25 Suspected al-Qaida Militants in Connection with US Embassy Attack
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E41746:A6F02AD83191E16067CC67EB2F384EA9E55ED32ED25AB8F6&
 
Officials say militants used car bombs, grenades, automatic weapons in
attack 
Yemeni soldiers stand guard outside US embassy in Sanaa, 18 Sep
2008Authorities in Yemen have arrested at least 25 people with suspected
links to al-Qaida in connection with Wednesday's attack on the U.S.
embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The assault killed six Yemeni
security personnel and four bystanders, including an 18-year-old
American woman and the Yemeni man she recently married. Six attackers
also were killed. Officials say the militants used car bombs, grenades
and automatic weapons in the attack. Yemeni guards and police fired
back, preventing the attackers from breaching the embassy's security
walls. The Yemeni government has vowed to find anyone else involved in
the plot and bring them to justice. The U.S. government is recommending
that Americans put off non-essential travel to Yemen, and warns those
already in the country should make contingency plans. U.S. President
George Bush said the attack is a reminder that the United States is at
war with ideological extremists. The United Nations Security Council and
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the embassy assault
and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. U.S. State
Department spokesman Sean Mc Cormack said the assault bears the
hallmarks of al-Qaida, but the U.S. has not concluded who is to blame. A
group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen claimed responsibility and
threatened further strikes. Islamist militants have attacked the U.S.
embassy in Sanaa several times since 2003. The most recent was in March,
when mortars targeting the compound landed on a nearby girls' school,
killing a Yemeni guard and wounding dozens of students. The U.S. State
Department authorized non-essential staff to leave Yemen in April. It
repeated that authorization Thursday.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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