Mortar attack attempted on US embassy in Yemen

CNN:

The American Embassy in Yemen was the target of a mortar attack Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said, contradicting a suggestion from the Yemeni government the attack targeted a school where 13 were injured.

"Our conversations in Yemen have led us to the conclusion that the attack was directed against our embassy," according to a statement released Tuesday evening. "Since this is an ongoing investigation, we are not going to talk about the specifics of the case."

Earlier, a source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Tuesday's mortar attack in the capital city of San'a -- but unauthorized to speak on the record -- told CNN there was a "clear and strong indication" the U.S. embassy was targeted.

"My strong belief is that there is almost no doubt this is an effort directed at the U.S. embassy," the source said.

The Yemeni government said the attack Tuesday -- which injured 13 students, three critically, at the Seventh of July school for girls, near the embassy -- could have stemmed from a personal dispute involving the school's headmistress. Yemen's ambassador to the United States, Abdulwahab Abdulla al-Hajjri, said the attack was "a private dispute."

"The target was someone inside the school," al-Hajjri said. "It had nothing to do with the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Embassy was not a target."

However, CNN's source said the Yemeni government is calling this a private dispute to "distract us" from their security "failure." The source said Yemeni investigators are also looking at this as a terrorist attack and are "energetically pursuing that line of thought. That reflects the seriousness in which they approach it."

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Yemen has been acting weird lately. They have released an al Qaeda leader who has been making appearances in the capital from time to time. The government is giving the appearance of not being serious in fighting the terrorist making a home in Yemen. Yemen, of course, was where the USS Cole was attacked.