Suicide bomber, gunmen kill 25 in Yemeni ministry attack
Print Edition
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into Yemen’s defense ministry complex yesterday, allowing gunmen to launch an assault which killed 25 people including three foreign doctors, officials said.
The brazen attack on the sprawling facility 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 and in the south have generally 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,” a security official said 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.
They were at a hospital within the ministry’s complex, and which bore the brunt of the attack.
“A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber forced its way into the western entrance of the ministry complex,” a security official said.
“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 heads a military delegation on a visit to the United States.
The ministry said gunmen occupied the hospital after the explosion, but that security forces had regained control of the building.
“The assailants took advantage of some construction work that is taking place to carry out this criminal act,” it said without elaborating.
A security source said in another apparently coordinated attack a gunfight raged outside the complex after the explosion, before government forces regained control and cordoned off the area.
State television aired gory footage of mangled bodies of what it said were suicide bombers, strewn in the hospital yard amid charred vehicles.
It also showed massive destruction within the hospital and floors stained with blood.
The channel broadcast appeals for people to donate blood at hospitals.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
