SANA’A: Militants who launched a brazen daylight assault on the Yemeni defence ministry that killed 56 people were mostly Saudis, investigators said yesterday.
The finding, in a preliminary report on the inquiry into Thursday’s attack, adds credibility to a claim of responsibility by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed from a merger of the jihadist network’s Saudi and Yemeni branches.
Investigators said the assailants wore military fatigues and penetrated the sprawling Sana’a complex in the confusion created when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into the gate.
They said the bodies of 12 attackers were recovered after security forces regained control of the area.
A hospital in the complex bore the brunt of the assault.
Among the dead were medics from the Philippines, Germany, Vietnam and India. Civilian patients as well as soldiers were also killed, Yemen’s supreme security committee said. On Friday Al Qaeda said it was behind the assault, alleging that the complex hosted US personnel behind drone strikes against its militants.
There was no immediate evidence to support that claim. Speaking on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Bahrain, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al Kurbi said the findings represent “a possibility, but there is no evidence
“We should wait for the final results of the investigation,” he said.
Yemeni analyst Saeed Al Jamhi, who specialises in Al Qaeda affairs, said the attack reflects “the level of the network’s penetration into security and military services” and shows it has access to “high-level information”.
The attack followed a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition. AFP
