The Yemen Soldiers Brigades, an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group in Yemen, claimed responsibility for a failed mortar attack against the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa that killed a security guard, a schoolgirl and wounded 19 others.

Five mortar rounds were reportedly fired at the U.S. embassy, but instead struck a girls’ high school on March 18, 2008.  The Yemen Soldiers Brigades posted a statement to a Web site commonly used by Al Qaeda militants acknowledging that one of the mortars “missed its target” and said, “We ask God to hasten the recovery of the schoolgirls.”

The Yemen Soldiers Brigades has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on Belgian and Spanish tourists in Yemen.

American interests in Yemen have previously been the focus of several attacks.  A gunman was arrested in 2006 after he opened fire outside the embassy and reportedly claimed he wanted to kill Americans.  In 2002, a Yemeni man threw a grenade into the embassy grounds in an alleged effort to retaliate against what he called American bias toward Israel. 

Al Qaeda also claimed responsibility for the 2000 USS Cole bombing in Yemen that killed 17 American soldiers.