A car bomber and gunmen dressed in army uniforms attacked Yemen's Defence Ministry compound in the capital Sanaa on Thursday morning, killing at least 20 people, two sources said, in one of the worst attacks in Yemen in 18 months.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But the country has been grappling with a security threat by Al Qaeda-linked militants, who have repeatedly attacked government officials and installations over the past two years.
Security in Yemen is an international concern. The US-allied country shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and is home to one of the most active branches of Al Qaeda that has plotted attacks against Western targets.
Security forces retook the compound after killing most of the attackers, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website.
A medical source and a ministry official said the gunmen had pulled at least two foreign employees, a Western doctor and a Filipina nurse, into the hospital courtyard and shot them dead in front of local staff.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But the country has been grappling with a security threat by Al Qaeda-linked militants, who have repeatedly attacked government officials and installations over the past two years.
Security in Yemen is an international concern. The US-allied country shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and is home to one of the most active branches of Al Qaeda that has plotted attacks against Western targets.
Security forces retook the compound after killing most of the attackers, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website.
A medical source and a ministry official said the gunmen had pulled at least two foreign employees, a Western doctor and a Filipina nurse, into the hospital courtyard and shot them dead in front of local staff.