Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility today for a brazen attack on a Yemeni defence complex that killed 52 people, including an Indian woman, saying it targeted the site as it hosted US personnel behind drone strikes against its militants.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the jihadist network's most dangerous affiliate, has been hit by intensified US drone strikes targeting its militants in Yemen this year.
But there was no immediate evidence to support its allegation that the Sanaa complex attacked yesterday played any role in the drone war or housed any US personnel.
Two doctors from Germany, two from Vietnam and another from Yemen were killed, as well two female nurses from the Philippines and one from India, Yemen's official Saba news agency said.
All of the dead came in a hospital inside the sprawling facility which bore the brunt of the armed assault that came after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the main gate.
The complex in central Sanaa was "stormed... After the mujahedeen (holy warriors) proved that it accommodates drone control rooms and American experts," AQAP said in a statement published by its media arm on Twitter.
"As part of a policy to target drone control rooms, the mujahedeen have dealt a heavy blow to one," it said.
"Such security headquarters in partnership with the Americans in their war on these Muslim people are a justified target wherever they may be."
Washington condemned the attack which cames as Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser headed a military delegation on a visit to the United States.
Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said she had no information about any US casualties.
But the Philippine foreign ministry gave a higher death toll for its nationals, saying that seven had died, all medical staff and including a doctor.
The remaining "martyrs" were all patients in the hospital, including both soldiers and civilians, among them a top Yemeni judge and his wife, Yemen's supreme security committee said.
Saba said 167 people were wounded, nine of them seriously.
The defence ministry said gunmen occupied the hospital after the explosion, but that security forces had regained control of the building.
