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Qaeda sez 7 'martyred' in attack on US embassy in Yemen
An Al-Qaeda group says seven of its fighters were killed when they attacked the US mission in Yemen in September and also claims an embassy official died in the strike, a US monitoring service reported on Friday.The Yemen interior ministry had said six Yemeni soldiers, six civilians and six attackers, including one wearing an explosives belt, were killed in the September 17 attack on the highly-fortified US embassy in Sanaa. The SITE Intelligence Group said an Al-Qaeda in Yemen branch had in an internet posting named the seven "martyrs" and had given a vivid description of how they had had breached the razor-tight security of the embassy in two vehicles. It said the group comprised scholar and fighter Lutf Muhammad Abu Abdul-Rahman and six of his students. The group, Al-Qaeda in the South of the Arabian Peninsula, threatened further attacks to deliver a "taste of horrors." "So, tighten your guard, increase your security measures for embassies and all dens of the Crusaders," the group warned. It also claimed that a US administrative official had died in the clash but that his death was later reported as having been due to a car accident, SITE said in a release. The US Embassy in Yemen posted a statement on its website saying administrative officer Jeffrey Patneau "died on October 4, 2008 from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident in Sanaa ... (on) September 29, 2008. "Recent claims to the contrary ... regarding the circumstances of Mr. Patneau's death are completely false," it added without elaborating. At the time of the embassy attack, US President George W. Bush said it was an attempt by extremists to drive the United States out of regions like the Middle East. Yemen said some days after the incident it was holding six key suspects, including an Islamist militant, Abu Ghaith al-Yamani, who had claimed responsibility for the assault. It said some of those being had links to Al-Qaeda. In recent months Yemen has seen a series of assaults on security services and oil installations claimed by groups linked to Al-Qaeda. Experts have said that after being set back by the increased US military presence in Iraq, Islamists are focusing on Yemen as a new territory for their operations. Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-11-15 |
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