Blast and gunfire near U.S. embassy in Yemen

It does not sound like they got to the actual embassy ,but it was close enough!

SANAA (Reuters) - A suspected car bomb followed by heavy gunfire targeted the U.S. embassy in Yemen on Wednesday and at least two people, including one of the attackers, were believed to be killed, witnesses and police said.

Smoke was seen rising from the heavily-fortified U.S. compound in Sanaa and ambulances and fire engines raced to the scene, which was cordoned off by police, witnesses said

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The U.S. embassy said none of its staff had been hurt.

A police source said an initial blast was caused by a suspected suicide car bomber, but the full count of dead and wounded was not yet known.

Yemeni officials were not immediately available to comment.

Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, has grappled with a spate of al Qaeda attacks this year, including one on the U.S. embassy, another near the Italian mission and others on Western tourists.

An al Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility in March for a mortar attack that missed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa but wounded 13 girls at a nearby school.

The United States ordered non-essential staff to leave Yemen in April, a day after an attack on a residential compound.
The Yemeni government joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

It has jailed dozens of militants in connection with bombings of Western targets and clashes with authorities, but is still viewed in the West as a haven for Islamist militants.

The government of the poor Arab country has also been fighting Shi'ite rebels in the northern province of Saada since 2004 and faced protests against unemployment and inflation.