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A suicide bomber blew his explosives-packed car into Yemen's defense ministry Thursday, allowing gunmen to launch an assault on the complex, killing and wounding dozens.
"At least 25 people have been killed," said a security official, shortly after the defence 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 that lies within the ministry's complex, 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 told AFP.
"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 is heading a military delegation on a visit to the United States.
The ministry said gunmen occupied the hospital after the explosion, but 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 another apparently coordinated attack had been launched and a gunfight was raging outside the complex early afternoon.
Source: AFP | 05-12-2013 - 10:44 Last updated 05-12-2013 - 15:22 |
Suicide bombing, gunfight kill tens in Yemeni capital
Updated at 2:10pm:At least 25 people were killed on Thursday in a car bomb and gun battle at the Yemeni defense ministry compound in the capital Sanaa, sources inside the complex said, in one of the most serious attacks in the past 18 months.
The defense ministry said the attack targeted the ministry's hospital and most of the gunmen had been killed or wounded.
"The attackers have exploited some construction work there to carry out this criminal act ... the situation is under control," the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Six doctors - three Yemeni, a Venezuelan and two from the Philippines - were among those killed, medical and security sources told AFP.
Five patients, among them a judge, also died at a hospital within the complex that took the brunt of the attack, a medic said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack. But the US-allied country has been grappling with a security threat by al-Qaeda-linked militants, who have repeatedly attacked government officials and installations over the past two years.
Witnesses said the explosion shook the compound in the old district of Sanaa, where the country's central bank is also located.
"The attack took place shortly after working hours started at the ministry, when a suicide bomber drove a car into the gate," the defense ministry source said.
"The explosion was very violent, the whole place shook because of it and plumes of smoke rose from the building," an employee who works in a nearby building told Reuters.
Ambulance sirens and gunshots were heard after the blast as soldiers exchanged fire with the gunmen, said to have been disguised in Yemeni army uniforms, who had stormed the compound.
A military source said that at least 20 people, including militants, were killed in the attack and dozens were wounded. The Yemeni health ministry appealed to citizens to donate blood to help save the wounded.
At least two sources inside the defense ministry said the attackers came in two vehicles. One was driven by a suicide bomber who attacked the gate of the compound, while armed men entered the compound in the second, the sources said. The ministry statement made no reference to a suicide attacker.
Violence is common in Yemen, where an interim government is grappling with southern secessionists, al-Qaeda-linked militants and northern Houthi rebels, as well as severe economic problems inherited from veteran President Ali Abdallah Saleh who was forced out of office in 2011.
The insurgents were emboldened by a decline in government control over the country during protests that eventually ousted Saleh. They seized several southern cities before being driven out in 2012.
Al-Qaeda militants have killed hundreds of Yemeni soldiers and members of the security forces in a series of attacks since an offensive, which the United States has supported with intelligence and drones, drove them out of their strongholds.
In July last year, an al-Qaeda suicide bomber wearing a Yemeni army uniform killed more than 90 people rehearsing for a military parade in Sanaa. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Yemen's defense minister, Major General Mohammed Nasir Ahmad, escaped a car bomb on his motorcade in September 2012 that killed at least 12 other people.
(Reuters, AFP, Al-Akhbar)