Mortar shell lands near France embassy in Yemen: Source

A mortar shell has been fired in the direction of the French embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, a police source has said.

The source said on Monday that the shell landed near a concrete block, installed for security reasons, on a road leading to the embassy, AFP reported.

“The shell landed about thirty meters from the wall of the French embassy,” he said, adding that there were no casualties.

A car also exploded meters away from the embassy in the diplomatic quarter in the capital.

The car “was parked halfway between the embassy and the residence of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital’s diplomatic district of Hadda,” the same source said.

Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, stepped down in February 2012 under a US-backed power transfer deal in return for immunity, after a year of mass street demonstrations demanding his ouster.

The attacks came shortly after two devices went off in a minibus parked in the center of Sana’a near the defense ministry late on Sunday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the blasts.

In December 2013, a bomb and gun attack near the defense ministry killed 52 people.