warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Yemen Defense Minister Escapes Car Bombing

Agnus Dei Farrant |
September 11, 2012 | 9:42 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Sanaa old city, Yemen (Creative Commons).
Sanaa old city, Yemen (Creative Commons).
Yemen’s defense minister escaped a car bomb in his motorcade Tuesday that killed 13 people in an attack believed to be the work of al-Qaida. The motorcade was traveling through the nation’s capital, the Associated Press reported.

On Monday, Yemeni authorities announced the No. 2 leader of al-Qaida’s Yemeni branch had been killed in an apparent U.S. airstrike, according to the AP. The group’s Yemeni branch is its most active. 

The terror group’s branch is believed to be behind the bombing as well as five other failed assassination attempts against the defense minister, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed. 

Eight of Ahmed’s security guards and five civilian bystanders were killed, a Yemeni security official told the AP. 

From the AP: 

Tuesday's bombing hit the last vehicle in Ahmed's three-car convoy as it was traveling through Sanaa's al-Izaa neighborhood, according to Yemeni security officials. The blast left the car a charred hulk of twisted metal, with burnt bodies strapped inside, and blew out the windows of storefronts and scorched a nearby building. Pools of blood stained the pavement as hundreds of soldiers and onlookers converged on the site.

Mohamed El-Mehdi, who works in the area, told the AP that some of the civilians killed were nearby store owners. 

"This is awful," El-Mehdi said. "The people and children are unable to grasp what happened." 

 

Reach Executive Producer Agnus Dei Farrant here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness