Yemen: Car bomb hits near home of Iranian ambassador
Two security guards killed; envoy reportedly not in the house when blast goes off in capital Sanaa
A massive car bomb has rocked the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday morning, apparently targeting the home of the Iranian ambassador, Yemeni security officials said.
The blast heavily damaged several buildings in the area. At least two people were killed, both security guards at the ambassador’s residence, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Ambassador Hassan Sayed Nam was not in the house when the attack took place in the diplomatic district of Hada, according to guards.
In January gunmen killed an Iranian diplomat in a drive-by shooting in Yemen’s capital. Iran’s diplomats also have been targeted elsewhere in the region. In November, suicide bombers targeted the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, killing at least 23 people.
Relations between Iran and Yemen have soured over what Sanaa calls Iranian meddling in its domestic affairs.
The Yemeni government and neighboring Saudi Arabia accuse Tehran of supporting Shiite rebels in the north, seeking to destabilize the country. Iran has dismissed the accusations.
Yemen has been dogged by instability since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, with rebel forces and al-Qaeda seeking to fill the power vacuum.
The turmoil has raised fears that the Arabian Peninsula nation, which neighbors oil-flush Saudi Arabia and lies on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf, may become a failed state.
AFP contributed to this report.