SANAA, 9 April 2008 — Seven people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in attacks against a residential complex for Westerners in Yemen’s capital, a security official said. The official said some of those detained Monday may have connections to Al-Qaeda, but he did not elaborate. Several explosions shattered windows at the complex in the upscale Haddah neighborhood in Sanaa on Sunday. Nobody was injured, but Western residents were seen evacuating the compound shortly after the attack with suitcases and boxes. A heavy security presence blanketed the area, with troops patrolling roads leading to the US and British embassies. The State Department reacted to the attack Monday by ordering its “non-emergency” American employees at the US Embassy in Sanaa and their families to leave Yemen. In a statement, the department also called on American civilians to defer nonessential travel to Yemen. The security official did not release the names of the seven detained, and it was unclear if they were suspected of directly belonging to Al-Qaeda. A little-known group purportedly with Al-Qaeda links claimed later Monday it was behind the attack, launched allegedly in revenge for the slaying last year of Taleban military commander Mullah Dadullah in Afghanistan. Yemen is also grappling with violence in the south, where security forces have been trying to put down riots by thousands of former southern army officers, political activists and unemployed men who have accused the government of unequal treatment. Six soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack on their checkpoint in a town in the Lahj province near Aden, a security official said. “Two of them are in a critical condition,” the official said. Fifteen people suspected of involvement in the attack are being questioned. A soldier was killed on Monday in the rioting, security officials said. Nineteen other people were wounded in continued clashes across several southern provinces. Residents said government forces fired live bullets and tear gas on demonstrators in the Abyan, Aden, Al-Dhale and Lahij provinces. Rioting by youths demanding jobs has erupted in several southern towns over the past 10 days. Politicians have said they are concerned the unrest could be used to drum up calls for the secession of the south, home of Yemen’s oil industry.
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