Sana'a, Yemen - Policemen manning a barricade outside the US
embassy in Sana'a on Monday opened fire at a car Monday, but there
were no casualties reported, an interior ministry official confirmed.
'Policemen fired warning shots after a car passed the blockade
outside the embassy,' the official, who asked not to be named, told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The official said three people were in the car, and an initial
investigation revealed that the vehicle did not intentionally pass
the police barrier.
A security source had said earlier that police chased the car
after gunmen in the vehicle fired at the barricade and fled.
The incident took place hours after the embassy said it had
received a threat of 'possible attack' against its compound and asked
US citizens in Yemen to exercise caution.
'The US embassy has received a threat against the embassy compound
regarding a possible attack which could take place in the foreseeable
future,' the embassy said on its website.
'US citizens in Yemen are advised to exercise caution and take
prudent security measures in all areas frequented by Westerners,' the
message said.
It asked Americans to maintain a 'high level of vigilance,' avoid
crowds and keep a low profile.
Witnesses said police closed a street near the embassy in eastern
Sana'a and dozens of police personnel were deployed around the
compound.
The reported threat comes three days after the leader of al-Qaeda
in Yemen, Nasser al-Waheishi alias Abu Bassir, threatened to carry
out attacks against US and Western interests in the Arabian
Peninsula.
'We will cut supply lines of the US forces in the Arabian
Peninsula and attack Westerners and Western interests until America
stops its support to the Jews,' al-Waheishi said in a rare video
posted on Islamist web sites on Friday.
Last September, the US embassy was hit by a suicide car bombing,
the deadliest attack on a foreign embassy in Yemen since the October
2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in the southern Yemen port of
Aden, which left 17 sailors dead and 32 wounded.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the embassy attack that left
18 people dead, including six militants.
A mortar attack last March targeted the embassy, injuring three
police officers and four girls in a neighbouring school.
A similar attack targeted a residential compound housing US and
Western citizens in April - no one was hurt. Al-Qaeda claimed
responsibility for both attacks.
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US, Yemen
allied itself with the US-led 'war on terror' and pursued suspected
members of al-Qaeda, putting scores of them on trial.
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