Al-Qaeda claims rocket attack on US oilmen in Yemen

AFP
April 7, 2008

SANAA (AFP) — Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack late Sunday on villas housing US oil experts in Yemen’s capital, a security source said Monday.

“Al-Qaeda has claimed the attack on the villas in Sanaa and the security services have obtained a statement confirming this from one of Al-Qaeda’s websites on the Internet,” the source, who declined to be named, told AFP

AFP was unable to access a website that traditionally carries such statements to confirm the claim.

Yemeni police arrested seven people in connection with the attack, the security source added, without giving details.

The attack was the latest to hit the impoverished state which has been plagued by Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

The attack on the villas, located next to a residential complex for other Westerners, occurred two days after the arrest in Sanaa of an Al-Qaeda operative, Abdullah al-Rimi, according to the security source.

Residents told AFP three rockets struck near the residences of US employees of the Yemen-owned Safer oil company, formerly known as Hunt Oil.

There were no reports of casualties.

Read entire article