SANAA - An explosion rocked the Yemeni capital overnight near the offices of Canadian oil company Nexen, without causing any casualties, a security official said on Thursday.
"An explosion took place (in the district of) Hadda, without causing any victims or damage," a Yemeni official said, requesting anonymity.
It was the latest attack this year against Western targets in Yemen, one of the poorest countries on the planet.
The blast was heard just after midnight in Hadda, which is home to American oil workers whose residental complex was targeted by three mortar rounds on Sunday in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda.
Last month, Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed in an Internet statement to have targeted the US embassy in Sanaa in an attack in which a schoolgirl and a policeman were killed and 19 people were wounded.
Following the uptick in violence, the US embassy in Yemen said on Tuesday it had been ordered by the State Department to evacuate non-essential personnel and banned embassy staff from travelling outside Sanaa.
Militants have carried out several attacks in recent years in Yemen.
In October 2000 it targeted American warship the USS Cole off the southern port of Aden, using a small boat packed with explosives to blow a hole in the side of the vessel, killing 17 American sailors.
Yemen has also been shaken by a Shiite insurgency in its mountainous northwest that has claimed thousands of lives since 2004.
The country is also awash with weapons, with roughly three firearms for every citizen.
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