Iran Urges Yemen’s Immediate Action to Find, Punish Terrorists behind Embassy Attack

(FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian strongly condemned the Wednesday morning terrorist attack on the residence of the country's ambassador in Sana'a, and called on the Yemeni government to take immediate action to find and bring to justice its perpetrators.

Three people were killed on Wednesday when a suicide attacker drove a car laden with explosives at the residence of the Iranian ambassador in the Yemeni capital Sana'a.

"We call on the Yemeni government to bring to justice the perpetrators of the terrorist attack," Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday.

He reiterated that the Yemeni government is responsible for the safety of diplomats and diplomatic centers, and added, "The Iranian diplomats and the embassy staff in Yemen are fully health and only some parts of the embassy building has been damaged."

The blast punched a large hole in the building and sent rubble flying across the street of the well-guarded diplomatic quarter of the city, a Reuters witness said.

According to the Reuters, Yemeni soldiers and paramedics arrived at the scene with stretchers. The Reuters report quoted Abdullah Mahmoud, a soldier, as claiming that Yemeni and Iranian guards had been killed and a paramedic at the scene said three dead bodies and three wounded had been taken from the area. It was not immediately clear whether the ambassador was in the residence at the time of the blast, the Reuters report added.

But a few hours later, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham dismissed the reports that the guards at the ambassador's residence had been killed in the suicide blast, and said all Iranian embassy staff members were in good health.

"All the staff members of the Iranian embassy in Sana'a are healthy and unhurt by the blast near the Iranian embassy (which is near to the ambassador's residence) in Yemen," Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran.