Word: yemenis
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...Yemeni source familiar with the initial government intelligence report on the incident told TIME that suspected militants tied to al-Qaeda were responsible and that it involved substantial weaponry, ample funding and elaborate planning. Officials believe the timing of the 9:15 a.m. attack was designed to catch security personnel off guard after their rising early for the predawn sohour meal before beginning the day's Ramadan fast. In an apparent effort to enter the embassy compound without firing a shot, the terrorists, officials believe, pulled up to the first perimeter checkpoint in a vehicle, impersonating uniformed Yemeni personnel...
...plan faltered at the first hurdle, when the Yemeni security guards refused the vehicle entry through the checkpoint. The militants then opened fire and detonated the bomb, which killed several guards and militants, eyewitnesses told journalists. The explosion set off a huge plume of black smoke over Sana'a as nervous U.S. diplomats, according to the source, headed for a specially designed secure room in the basement of the embassy building. One of the suicide bombers' arms was found later on a nearby street...
...that point, government sources say, the second vehicle raced past the carnage toward the embassy's front gate. Firing grenades and automatic weapons, the militants engaged Yemeni guards in a 20-min. battle but failed to penetrate the compound before all were killed. Yemeni officials said the casualties included six guards, six militants and four civilian bystanders...
...against jihadists is far from over. "It's like those scary movies when you kill one [monster] and it makes two more," says the TIME source. "It means we have to work harder, hit harder, be more alert, and hopefully we'll get rid of them." Some Yemeni officials privately criticize the Bush Administration for demanding better results while withholding substantial aid that could help the impoverished country be more effective in the fight. "The U.S. should provide more assistance, more equipment, more training," a former senior government official tells TIME. "The assistance is like a drip from a faucet...
...valuable ally against al-Qaeda, it has sometimes been too lax - for example, by sentencing hardened militants to short prison terms and freeing repatriated Guantánamo Bay detainees. Last May, an appeals court reduced from five to three years the prison sentence for Saleh al-Ammari, the Yemeni man who opened fire on the U.S. embassy in Sana'a in 2006. Still, U.S. officials acknowledge that the government faces a formidable challenge. The country is home to a large number of veterans of the anti-Soviet jihads in Afghanistan and the Iraq insurgency; local militants have links to powerful...