Yemen official: Suicide attack outside police academy kills at least 10

By Associated Press,

July 11, 2012

SANAA, Yemen — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives into a crowd of Yemeni police cadets as they were leaving their academy on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, a security official said.

Ambulances could be seen rushing to the site of the attack in the capital Sanaa. The official said dozens more were wounded, including several critically.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but al-Qaida’s Yemen branch frequently targets security forces.

Twelve suspects have been arrested in connection with Wednesday’s attack, according to security officials. The officials said the bomber was from the province of Amran, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Sanaa. They provided no other details

The capital was on high alert after the attack, with security forces setting up checkpoints around the city and searching cars. Security was also beefed up around embassies.

The attack came after the army last month recaptured several militant-held towns in the country’s south, following a monthslong campaign to retake territory the militants seized during last year’s political turmoil that swept the country.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the global terror movement’s most dangerous offshoot, has struck back against the military’s offensive with deadly attacks in the south and a May 21 bombing at a parade ground in Sanaa that killed 96 Yemeni soldiers.

Security officials said 55 people have been arrested in connection with that attack, among them al-Qaida militants accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy.

Last week, Yemeni state TV aired a number of the detainees’ purported confessions, with one of the accused saying he had orders to carry out an attack against the U.S. Embassy and other foreign embassies. He did not elaborate.

Earlier Wednesday, the government announced that two al-Qaida militants who tunneled out of a prison last month were re-arrested in a southern province. An Interior Ministry statement said one of the two, Nasser Ismail Ahmed Muttahar, was detained for taking part in an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in 2008.

The attack on the embassy’s gate, carried out by gunmen and vehicles packed with explosives, killed 19 people including an 18-year-old American woman and six militants. None of those killed or wounded were U.S. diplomats or embassy employees. It was the deadliest assault on a U.S. embassy in a decade.

The two militants who had escaped prison were captured in al-Dhali province on Tuesday. The ministry statement said they were among five militants who escaped from a prison in the western province of Hodeida on June 26.

In another of Yemen’s multiple ongoing conflicts, the army shot dead a protester Wednesday in the southern port city of Aden and wounded four others, including two women, a security official said.

He said the demonstrators were protesting the government’s decision to deploy army units inside Aden. What started as a peaceful demonstration turned violent as marchers started throwing rocks at the army, which then opened fire to disperse them.

Aden, the capital of a separate country before it unified with the north in 1990, is experiencing a wave of protests calling for the secession of the south.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.nt-held towns in the country’s south. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the global terror movement’s most dangerous offshoot, has struck back against the military’s offensive with deadly attacks in the south and a May 21 bombing at a parade ground in Sanaa that killed 96 Yemeni soldiers.

Also Wednesday, the government announced that two al-Qaida militants who tunneled out of a prison last month were re-arrested in a southern province.

An Interior Ministry statement said the two were captured in al-Dhali province on Tuesday. It said they were among five militants who escaped from a prison in the western province of Hodeida on June 26.

It said one of the two, Nasser Ismail Ahmed Muttahar, was detained for taking part in an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in 2008.

The attack on the embassy’s gate, carried out by gunmen and vehicles packed with explosives, killed 19 people including an 18-year-old American woman and six militants. None of those killed or wounded were U.S. diplomats or embassy employees.

It was the deadliest assault on a U.S. embassy in a decade.

In another of Yemen’s multiple ongoing conflicts, the army shot dead a protester Wednesday in the southern port city of Aden and wounded four others, including two women, a security official said.

He said the demonstrators were protesting the government’s decision to deploy army units inside Aden. What started as a peaceful demonstration turned violent as marchers started throwing rocks at the army, which then opened fire to disperse them.

Aden, the capital of a separate country before it unified with the north in 1990, is experiencing a wave of protest calling for southern secession.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.