Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen has claimed that it launched the deadly suicide bombing attacks on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Sept. 17 that killed 17 people, the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors extremist Web sites said on Friday.

Reports reaching here quoted the U.S.-based terrorism monitor as saying that al-Qaida claimed the responsibility in a militant Web site this week by saying that the attackers were responding to a call by their chief Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.

According to the terrorism monitor, the al-Qaida branch also warned of more attacks on the Arabian Peninsula. "Tighten your guard (and) increase your security measures for all embassies," said its statement.

Earlier on Sept. 17 just after the deadly attack, Washington had noted that al-Qaida might be involved in the Yemeni terror attacks.

"The attacks bear all the hallmarks of an al-Qaida attack," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding "at this point I am not prepared to draw some exact linkage for you but again if you look at the facts on the ground, it looks a lot like what we have seen in the past from al-Qaida."

Quoting security sources in charge of guarding the U.S. embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen's official SABA news agency reported on Sept. 17 that the terrorists had planned two suicide attacks with two bombed cars targeting the building, which had been foiled.

The source said two cars had tried to break into the embassy compound at 9: 30 am (0630 GMT) in the day and the guards had managed to explode them outside the security barriers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2008)