Al Qaeda says it tried to kill US ambassador to Yemen

By AFP - Nov 08,2014 - Last updated at Nov 08,2014

SANAA — Al Qaeda said Saturday it had tried to assassinate the US ambassador to Yemen with two bombs that were discovered minutes before they were due to explode.

The explosives were planted Thursday outside the house of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the media arm of Al Qaeda's Yemen branch said in a statement posted on Twitter.

They were intended to be detonated when Ambassador Matthew Tueller left following a roughly hour-long visit to the house in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, it said.

There was no official confirmation of the failed plot.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight against Al Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory.

The United States considers Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the most dangerous arm of the jihadist organisation.

AQAP was born out of a 2009 merger of its franchises in Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden's native Saudi Arabia and his ancestral homeland in Yemen.

The group has exploited instability in impoverished Yemen since a 2011 uprising overthrew president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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