Rockets fired at villas housing US oilmen in Yemen

SANAA (AFP) — Three rockets were fired late on Sunday at villas where US oil experts live in Yemen's capital, next to a residential complex for other Westerners, residents said, in the latest attack to hit a country plagued by Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

Security officials confirmed that rockets had been fired but gave few other details. One security official was quoted by state media as saying there were no casualties.

Residents told AFP that three rockets truck near the villas where American oil experts from the former Hunt Oil firm, now called Safer and owned by Yemen, live.

The villas are behind a residential compound in the Al-Hadda neighbourhood of southwestern Sanaa. Foreigners, including Westerners and Arabs, live in the compound which also houses the offices of Safer oil company.

Police cordoned off the area, residents said. They also closed off roads leading to the US embassy in the northwestern sector of Sanaa.