Al Qa'eda claims attack on UK envoy to Yemen

SANA'A // Al Qa'eda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based wing of the terror group, said yesterday it was responsible for the failed suicide bombing on the British ambassador to Yemen in late April. The organisation said in a statement released on Sada'a al Malahim, a jihadist website, that the attack was in response to the UK's role in hosting the London donors' conference on Yemen in January.

The statement identified the bomber as Othman Noman al Selwi, 22, saying he was member of the "Brigade of Sheikh Abu Omar al Baghdadi". The website shows a photograph of al Selwi wearing traditional Yemeni clothes. Al Baghdadi was an al Qa'eda senior leader in Iraq who, according to the Iraqi government, was killed in April in a joint US-Iraqi attack in Tikrit. Tim Torlot, the British ambassador to Yemen, survived the April 26 attack when a suicide bomber hurled himself at the diplomat's convoy, injuring three Yemeni bystanders.

The UK government called donors for a meeting in London to discuss ways to help stabilise Yemen after a Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a US airliner was found to have trained with al Qa'eda in Yemen. @Email:malqadhi@thenational.ae