Yemen Foils Suicide Bomber at English Language Center

Yemeni security forces on Sunday foiled an attack by a would-be suicide bomber on an English language school once linked to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, a security official said.

The assailant, 20, was caught after he hurled a grenade that failed to explode at the Yemen-America Language Institute in west Sanaa, the official said.

Security guards found the man wearing an explosives belt, he added.

The YALI institute was founded by the U.S. embassy in 1975, but has been run privately for the past few years.

Security forces foiled the attack on the same day a powerful blast ripped through a bus carrying Yemeni air force personnel to their Sanaa base, killing one person and wounding 25.

The United States closed 19 diplomatic missions in Muslim countries on August 4 after reported intelligence intercepts from al-Qaida suggested an attack was imminent.

The U.S. embassy in Sanaa, which was seen as the epicenter of the threat, remained shut for two weeks.

The Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the most active franchise of the global jihadist network, has been behind numerous attacks on the country's security forces.