Car bomb hits Iranian ambassador's house in Yemen, envoy unhurt

Tehran, Dec 3: Iran's ambassador to Yemen was not hurt in Wednesday's car bomb explosion in capital Sanaa, the foreign ministry said.

"According to the latest information, all of the Iranian embassy staff in Yemen are all right," Xinhua quoted foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying.

A powerful car bomb hit the residence of the Iranian ambassador to Yemen Wednesday morning, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others.

The house of the Iranian ambassador was seriously damaged but the ambassador was not inside when the bomb went off.

The Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"It was not an important issue," Afkham said, but "the details of the incident are under investigation."

After a long delay in dispatching an ambassador to Yemen, Iran sent its envoy, Hossein Niknam, to Sanaa last week, signalling Iran's "political will" to establish relations with the Arab state, the Iranian spokeswoman said, also hoping that Sanaa could play its part in improving bilateral relations.

Iranian diplomats were frequently targeted by militants in Yemen. In January, an Iranian diplomat was shot dead by unknown gunmen while the Yemen-based AQAP still holds captive another Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in July 2013.

The Yemeni government accuses Iran of meddling in its domestic affairs while some Sunni tribes accuse Iran of supporting the Shia Houthi group in provoking sectarian conflicts. Iran and the Houthi group have denied such accusations.

IANS