Shots Near US Embassy in Yemen
Update: now its three people tried to pass the embassy checkpoint and no shots fired at the embassy. The police fired in the air to stop the car from fleeing.
Update 2: US version, Yemeni security forces “exchanged gunfire with an unknown group of individuals in the vicinity of the U.S. embassy,” State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in Washington.
“The exact circumstances and motivations behind this incident are unclear, and an investigation is ongoing,” he said, adding that no U.S. personnel were harmed and the embassy was not damaged.
Update 3: Three arrested. OK so let review, they send an email and also call to say there will be an attack. Yemeni security sets up an extra parimeter. Three guys drive up and try to get past the check point. The Yemeni guards shoot in the air and the three surrender with no injuries to anyone. gee…
Original Post:
AP reports that the US embassy received a threat of an attack today, by both phone and email. Several hours later, a gunman shoots at a police checkpoint. The car fled. Does that make sense? Since when does al Qaeda email notice of an impending assualt?
SAN’A, Yemen – Gunmen in a car fired on a police checkpoint near the U.S. Embassy in Yemen’s capital on Monday, an Interior Ministry official said, hours after the embassy received threats of a possible attack.
Police returned fire at two gunmen in the car, which fled the scene, the official said. It was unclear if anyone was injured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press. He said three men in the area were detained.An attack on the embassy in September involving gunmen and explosives-packed vehicles killed 17 people, including six militants. Al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for that attack…Earlier, a Yemeni security official said the U.S. Embassy received a telephone call and an e-mail early Monday saying the U.S. and Russian embassies would be targeted by al-Qaida within a few hours.
