Al-Qaida was blamed for an attack on British diplomats in the Yemeni capital Sana'a today, reinforcing concerns about jihadi terrorism in the impoverished Arabian peninsula country.
The Foreign Office said that one of five embassy personnel, including the deputy ambassador, was slightly injured. Two bystanders were wounded by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade and two people were seen fleeing the scene.
It was the second attack on British officials in Yemen this year. In April a suicide bomber killed himself and injured three bystanders in an attack on a car carrying the UK ambassador, Tim Torlot.
Britain is playing a leading role in international efforts to stop the Arab world's poorest country collapsing into a Somali-type failed state by boosting development and promoting economic reform.
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Earlier this week the Yemeni authorities boosted security around embassies in Sana'a on receipt of information about an attack planned by al-Qaida. Intelligence agencies point to the resilience in Yemen of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap), one of the most active branches of Osama bin Laden's organisation outside its hard core in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Yemen's foreign minister, promised a "vigorous" investigation into the attack. Torlot heard similar assurances from President Ali Abdullah Salih, who he was seeing for a farewell meeting as he is about to leave his Sana'a posting.
Security experts have been monitoring Aqap closely since last Christmas Day's attempt by the Nigerian "underpants bomber", Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blow up a passenger plane flying to Chicago from the Netherlands. The US is seeking to hunt down a Yemeni-American preacher, Anwar al-Awlaqi, who is believed to be hiding in a remote tribal area.
Yemen insists it is waging a determined campaign against Aqap, while the US has earmarked $150m (£95m) in military assistance to help with training, equipment and intelligence. The Pentagon is now considering boosting aid to $1.2bn.
The group claimed this week that it had tried but failed to shoot down the plane of Saudi Arabia's deputy interior minister at Sana'a airport late last year.
In a separate incident today, a security guard opened fire inside the compound of Austrian oil and gas group OMV, killing a French man. Government security forces disarmed the attacker.
(source:guardian.co.uk)
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