British Ambassador survives suicide bomb attack in Yemen

[superzebra]

The British ambassador to Yemen has survived a suicide bomb attack by terrorists in the capital Sana'a.
The ambassador, Timothy Torlot, was in a convoy travelling to the embassy, situated on a hill overlooking the city, when the bomb was detonated on Monday morning.

One person was confirmed by the Yemeni authorities to have died, but it is not clear whether they were referring to the attacker, who was said to have been blown to pieces.
They confirmed that no-one from the embassy was killed, while Mr Torlot himself was said to be unhurt.

Witnesses said the attacker had failed after being "slow" to get close to the vehicle in which Mr Torlot was travelling.

The attack will add to concerns over Yemen's instability and use as a base by terrorist groups including al-Qaeda.

The failed attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit in the United States on Christmas Day was blamed on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group formed last year by a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi wings of the organisation.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian graduate of University College, London, had been trained by the group after travelling to Sana'a to study Arabic.

While there has been sporadic fighting with alleged al-Qaeda cells in the country, as well as long-running conflict with other rebel groups, Sana'a itself has been thought to be relatively safe.

Nevertheless, 19 people died in an all-out assault involving rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and car bombs on the American embassy in September 2008.

The British embassy, near the Sheraton and Movenpick Hotels, is heavily fortified, with sand-bagged machine gun posts guarding its shock-walled entrance.

Mr Torlot, 52, has been ambassador since 2007. He was previously deputy head of mission in Baghdad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/7633641/British-Ambassador-survives-suicide-bomb-attack-in-Yemen.html

 :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
the brits are ....