Yemen says U.S. Embassy attackers had links to al-Qaeda

SAN'A, Yemen - The suicide squad that assaulted the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in September had links to al-Qaeda, and some of the militants had fought in Iraq, a Yemeni security official said yesterday.

The official added that the United Nations has raised its security level in Yemen in response to terrorist threats.

The six Yemeni men who carried out the Sept. 17 attack against the gates of the U.S. Embassy were trained at al-Qaeda camps in the southern Yemeni provinces of Hadramut and Marib, and three of them had recently returned from Iraq, the official added.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, the attackers drove two cars packed with explosives into the embassy gate and sprayed it with bullets before being killed. Aside from the attackers, 13 died in the incident, including an 18-year-old American woman of Yemeni origin.

The assault was the deadliest direct attack on a U.S. embassy in a decade.

The United States counts Yemen as an ally in the war on terrorism, but American officials have long been frustrated over what they say is a "revolving door" policy toward al-Qaeda militants by President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government.

Yemen has freed some convicted militants after they promised to refrain from violence.

While U.N. officials would not confirm whether there had been any threats against them, on Oct. 18 the international organization increased its security level to "phase 3," which means family members and nonessential staff must leave the country.

"The U.N. Secretary General has temporarily increased the security level to phase 3 purely as an internal precautionary measure," resident coordinator Pratibha Mehta said in a statement. "U.N. essential staff will remain and we will continue to implement all U.N. programs and operations."

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr al-Qirbi has met with Western ambassadors to assure them Yemen has taken measures to secure their missions, said a ministry statement.