May 2010 Sana'a attacks (SIADD)

The May 2010 Sana'a attacks was a series of four coordinated attacks in the capital Sana'a, consisting of two suicide bombs and two coordinated attacks targeting the Yemeni Army Headquarters, the Yemeni intelligence headquarters, the main market and the U.S. Embassy on May 23, 2010, for which al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility.

The attack
Beginning at around 1:30 P.M. (10:30 UTC) the AQAP carried out four coordinated attacks in the capital Sana'a. The attacks consisted of a series of two suicide bombs and two coordinated attacks targeting the Yemeni Army Headquarters, the Yemeni intelligence headquarters, the main market and the U.S. Embassy.

At the Yemeni Army Headquarters, the car refused to stop at the security gate, forcing the soldiers to open fire on the driver, who drove into a staff car, where he afterwards detonated the car bomb. Along with the suicide bomber were 8 Yemeni soldiers and 3 civilians killed in the blast. At the main market, a suicide bomber detonated his west among a large crowd of civilians, killing 17 people and wounding 46.

As the police and the military were preoccupied in the chaos resulting from these two attacks, 10 AQAP members disguised in police uniforms split into two groups attacked the Yemeni intelligence headquarters. While one fired RPG rockets at the intelligence building and forced their way inside; the other group attempted to free prisoners held there. During the exchange of fire, 10 security personnel, and four civilians were killed. The attackers escaped in a vehicle. Finally, another group of 10 AQAP members launched an assault on the U.S. embassy, firing RPG rockets while the rest attempted to make their way into the building, with the goal of killing the U.S. ambassador. However, the security guards managed to fight of the attackers, who fled in a car. 7 people were killed, including 3 security guards and 4 U.S. citizens killed by a RPG rocket.

Fatalities
A total of 49 people were killed in the attacks while 140 were wounded. Among the dead were 8 Yemeni soldiers and 13 security personnel. The majority of the fatalities were civilians (a total of 28). Among the dead civilians were 4 U.S. citizens working at the embassy.

Eleven attackers died in the attacks; two of them were suicide bombers while the remaining nine were killed by security personnel.

The perpatrators
The AQAP immediately claimed responsibility. A AQAP spokesperson presented a recorded video by Uthman Noman al-Salwi, the man responsible for planning and implementing the plan, who was killed by security forces outside the Yemeni intelligence headquarters. He stated that the operation was a retaliation for the U.S. intervention in the conflict and the Yemeni government's cooperation with the Americans. He further thated that "We decided that we should attack at the right time in order to show the infidels in the Yemeni government and the United States that our hand and our might can reach anywhere, anytime."