Al-Qaida Claims Attack on US-Yemen Airbase

An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen says it carried out a rocket attack Thursday on an airbase used by the United States.

Yemeni officials confirmed the strike on the Al-Anad facility in the southern province of Lahij.

A spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington reported there were no fatalities. The Pentagon said no U.S. military personnel were injured.

Earlier this week, al-Qaida claimed two suicide car bombings on a military base that killed seven Yemeni soldiers.

The militant group ambushed another military facility in the same province of Hadramout late Monday, killing two other soldiers.

U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith said the Unites States has no "permanent" military presence in Yemen, but that the Yemeni government allows U.S. forces to use its bases in the interest of Yemeni security.

The recent attacks come amid ongoing political turmoil in Yemen, which has seen several changes in leadership in recent months and a continuing battle against al-Qaida affiliates and Shi'ite Muslim rebels.

On Saturday, at least 11 people were also killed in a failed U.S.-led operation to rescue two foreign hostages in Yemen.

The men, an American journalist and a South African teacher, were shot by their captors and died during the mission.