SANAA, Sept 17: Militants attacked the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa with a car bomb and rockets on Wednesday. Following are the main attacks on foreign targets in Yemen since 2000:

2000

— Oct 12: Seventeen US sailors are killed and 38 others wounded in a suicide attack against the destroyer USS Cole in the southern port of Aden. Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network claims responsibility.

— Oct 13: A blast targets the British embassy in Sanaa but there are no casualties.

2001

— Jan 1: An explosion damages a Protestant church in the heart of Aden and a shell is aimed at the Continental hotel but misses its target.

2002

— Oct 6: Al Qaeda claims responsibility for ramming a small boat loaded with explosives into a French oil tanker, the Limburg, a near repeat of the attack on the USS Cole. A Bulgarian crew member is killed.

— Dec 30: Three American doctors are killed and a fourth gravely wounded in an attack by a Muslim extremist at a Baptist hospital in Jibla, south of Sanaa.

2003

— March 18: An American, a Canadian and a Yemeni are killed and a second Canadian wounded in an attack by a Yemeni who later kills himself.

2007

— June 23: A soldier with “emotional problems” opens fire on oil workers with US firm Occidental Petroleum Corporation, killing one and wounding six, including the local American boss.

— July 2: Seven Spanish tourists and two Yemeni drivers are killed when a suicide bomber rams his explosives-laden car into their convoy at an ancient temple in the eastern Marib region. Six Spaniards, two Yemeni drivers and four guards were injured.

2008

— Jan 18: Two Belgian tourists and their Yemeni driver are killed when gunmen opened fire in Yemen’s Hadramawt province. Four other Belgians are wounded.

— March 18: A schoolgirl and a policeman are killed and 19 people wounded in a hail of mortar fire that US diplomats said targeted the embassy. It is claimed by the local wing of Al Qaeda.

— April 6: Rockets are fired on a residential complex housing American oil workers and other foreigners in Sanaa, in another attack claimed by Al Qaeda’s Jund al-Yemen brigades. The US embassy subsequently ordered the evacuation of non-essential diplomatic staff.

— Sept 17: Muslim militants attack the US embassy in Sanaa with a car bomb and rockets, leaving 16 people dead but no American casualties. The shadowy Islamic Jihad in Yemen claims responsibility.—AFP