SITE: Qaida Claims 'Bomb Attack' on U.S. Embassy in Yemen

Al-Qaida has claimed it detonated two bombs outside the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, killing several guards, a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Saturday.

In a message on Twitter, al-Qaida's media branch said its fighters set off the explosive devices at an entrance to the embassy on Thursday night, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

There has been no announcement by U.S. authorities of any attack, and American officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the claim.

The announcement comes three weeks after al-Qaida said it had tried to assassinate U.S. Ambassador Matthew Tueller with two bombs that were discovered minutes before they were to explode.

The devices had been planted outside the house of Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and had been intended to explode when Tueller left after a visit there on September 8, al-Qaida said.

Yemen is a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory.

The United States considers al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to be the most dangerous arm of the jihadist organisation.

AQAP was born out of a 2009 merger of its franchises in al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden's native Saudi Arabia and his ancestral homeland in Yemen.

The group has exploited instability in impoverished Yemen since a 2011 uprising forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.