British embassy in Yemen rocked by terrorist bomb

A bomb blast caused heavy damage at the British embassy in Yemen yesterday as the violence of the Middle East conflict spread with Western targets under threat from international terrorists.

A bomb blast caused heavy damage at the British embassy in Yemen yesterday as the violence of the Middle East conflict spread with Western targets under threat from international terrorists.

The explosion in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, followed the suicide bombing of a United States warship off the country's main port, Aden. As Western security agencies warned of the danger of an impending wave of attacks from Islamic terrorists, there were further outbreaks of violence during anti-Israeli demonstrations in several capitals, and arson attacks on five synagogues in France.

The US government announced it was shutting several embassies in vulnerable locations and forces were put on stand-by in case other legations or military installations came under attack.

The blast at the embassy is believed to have been caused by a bomb being thrown over a wall. The attack took place at 6.10am, when the building was unoccupied. Windows were blown in and furniture damaged, but there were no casualties. The force of the explosion shook the whole neighbourhood, damaging a local school and the nearby Dutch embassy.

The casualty toll from the attack on the USS Cole, which tore a 600 sq ft hole in the destroyer, rose to seven dead and 35 injured. The US Navy said another 10 sailors were still missing and almost certainly dead, making it one of the most serious terrorist assaults against an American target in recent years.

The Yemeni interior ministry suggested the damage to the British embassy could have been caused by a faulty generator. But the Foreign Office dismissed the claim and Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, said: "It was not a particularly professional attack, rather an opportunistic one, and it seems to have landed on a diesel generator and caused quite a substantial explosion. We have been on alert for some time and the region has been hit by a number of casualties."

The British ambassador, Victor Henderson, added: "Our emergency generator, which is located near the wall of a block which houses our political and commercial section, including my office, exploded."

American officials believed the attack on the USS Cole was the responsibility of the Islamic terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, whose family is from Yemen. There were fears of further suicide bombings after the release of Hamas and Hizbollah terrorists from jail by the Palestinian Authority. Israeli ministers accused Mr Arafat of stoking terrorism by freeing the bombers, but the Palestinians maintained they had to be released because the Israelis had warned of air strikes against police stations, and the jails were in the stations' security compounds.

Anti-Israeli demonstrations continued in countries with Muslim population in Asia, Africa and Europe. In South Africa two police officers were stabbed in clashes. Jewish communities across Europe were taking security precautions, fearing they would be attacked. In France, police reported 70 anti-Semitic incidents, ranging from arson to abuse.