Middle East News
Yemen police seize explosives on two vehicles near US embassy
Sep 8, 2009, 23:42 GMT
Sana'a, Yemen - Police seized two suspicious vehicles carrying explosives near the US embassy in Sana'a and arrested four occupants of the two cars, government web sites reported Tuesday.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement on its website that police seized five hand grenades, five bomb triggers, an AK-47-style rifle with 296 rounds, 20 jerry cans filled with petrol and various 'military possessions' in the two vehicles, which were a van and a land cruiser.
The seizures were made after police officers stopped the vehicles to check them, the ministry said, without elaborating where in Sana'a or when the seizures were made.
A website run by the ruling GPC party said the two cars were stopped 'in the vicinity of the US embassy.'
The ministry said four men ages 20 to 33 in the two vehicles were arrested and are being interrogated. The four men were described as originally from the Dammaj district of the restive province of Saada, where the Yemeni Army is battling Shiite rebels.
Although it is located in a Zaydi Shiite majority area, Dammaj is known as one of the strongholds of Sunni Salafists, whose religious schools attract students from across Yemen and other Arab countries, as well from Western countries.
The US embassy was targeted by two suicide car bombs in September 2008 that left 19 dead, including six al-Qaeda attackers.
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