Al Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for Yemen ministry attack SANAA (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack on Yemen's defense ministry that killed at least 52 people, the country's worst militant assault in 18 months. "As part of the policy of targeting the operation rooms of pilotless planes, the mujahideen (holy fighters) have heavily struck one of these rooms in the Ministry of Defence headquarters," Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) said in a Twitter message posted early on Friday. The group is an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). "Such joint military locations which participate with the Americans in their war against this Muslim nation are a legitimate target for our operations," another tweet said. Thursday's attack, in which 167 people were wounded, was carried out by a suicide bomber and gunmen wearing army uniforms. Some of the dead were foreign medics, including German, Vietnamese, Indian, Filipino nationals. The U.S. military raised its alert status in the region after the coordinated strikes on Yemen, which is also home to what Washington has called the most active arm of al Qaeda. Violence is common in Yemen, where an interim government is fighting southern secessionists and northern Houthi rebels in addition to al Qaeda-linked militants, who are seeking to overthrow the government and impose their version of Islamic law. Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Writing by Mahmoud Habboush; editing by Patrick Graham