Dubai, September 17
A deadly suicide and rocket attack hit the high-security US Embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa today killing at least 16 persons, including an Indian woman, a strike termed by the White House a reminder of the danger from “violent extremists” both at home and abroad.
Rani Krishnan Nair (26), a trainee nurse at a private hospital in Sanaa, died in the attack along with six Yemeni soldiers and three other civilians. Six attackers were also killed in the attack.
Nair, hailing from Kerala, was on her way to the hospital when she was caught in the cross-fire that followed the bombing outside the heavily fortified embassy, an Indian Embassy official in Sanaa said.
“She was hit by a bullet and died on the spot,” he said over phone.
Born in Iran, Nair came to Sanaa in May this year. Her mother is also a nurse at a hospital in the Yemeni capital, the embassy official said.
“We are in touch with the family,” he said.As many as five explosions rocked the embassy followed by a fierce fire-fight outside the embassy in the capital city of Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
A suicide bomber smashed his explosives-laden car at the entrance of the embassy, which also came under rocket attacks, reports reaching here said.
A group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen claimed the responsibility for the strike.
Meanwhile, the US State Department today said two car bombs that exploded outside the US Embassy in yemen bore “ all the hallmark” of an Al-Qaida attack but the US had not yet concluded, who was to blame.
— PTI/Reuters
