A bomb exploded late Wednesday outside the offices a Canadian oil firm in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, with no casualties reported, witnesses said. ( dpa )
The blast in the Haddah neighbourhood caused minor damage to the wall of the building of the largest oil company operating in Yemen, Canadian Nexen Petroleum.
A police officer at the scene said that the improvised bomb was tossed into a corner of a cinema adjacent to the company's building. He said a second bomb was found by the door of a nearby restaurant and defused.
The blast comes three days after a mortar attack targeted a high- security residential complex in the Haddah residential compound housing US diplomats and other Westerners working for foreign oil companies in Yemen. There were no casualties when the compound was hit by three mortar shells on Sunday, and the attackers managed to escape,police said.
On Tuesday, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Yemen Soldiers Brigade claimed responsibility for the mortar attack in a statement posted on an Islamist web site.
The US embassy in Yemen on Tuesday asked its non-essential staff and family members to leave Yemen.
The embassy advised employees to "strictly limit their exposure in public places until further notice." It called on US citizens in Yemen to "exercise caution and take prudent security measures, including maintaining a high level of vigilance."
On March 18, four mortar shells were fired at the US embassy's compound in Sana'a but missed their apparent target and struck a girls' school adjacent to the embassy.
An embassy guard was killed in the March attack, while three embassy guards and 13 female students were wounded. Official media said later that the terrorist network al-Qaeda was behind the embassy attack.