Suicide Attack in Yemen - NYTimes.com LONDON - A convulsion of violence seized Yemen with gunmen opening fire on American Coast Guard instructors at a Red Sea port and a suicide bomber wearing an army uniform killing scores in an attack on a military parade drill in the capital, Sana, news reports said on Monday. The attacks raised fresh concerns about the activities of an Al Qaeda affiliate in the poverty-stricken land that has endured months of protest and insurgency since the first stirrings of the broader Arab revolt last year. According to The Associated Press, the attack on three United States Coast Guard trainers in the port city of Hodeida happened on Sunday when unidentified militants in a car pulled alongside the American's vehicle and sprayed it with what was described as machine-gun fire. One American was wounded, but there was no immediate word on how badly. On Monday, Yemeni officials were quoted as saying a suicide bomber attacked soldiers rehearsing for a military parade at a central square in Sana near the presidential palace in preparation for a national day parade on Tuesday. The A.P. quoted medical and military officials as saying the bomber was himself participating in the drill when he set off his explosives. Scores of others were wounded and some news reports spoke of a much higher death toll. Reuters quoted an unidentified police official as saying 41 people were killed and more than 60 wounded. Yemen's defense minister and chief of staff were present but not hurt in the blast. It was not clear if the attacks in Hodeida and Sana were linked. Agence France-Presse quoted an Al Qaeda statement as taking responsibility for the attack in Hodeida, but the news agency also quoted a denial from the American Embassy in Sana as saying the reports of American advisers in Hodeida were untrue. "Reports of U.S. military trainers in Hodeida are false," an embassy e-mail was quoting as saying but it did not refer directly to Coast Guard personnel. The embassy in Saana did not immediately respond to a telephone request for further comment. The Al Qaeda statement was quoted as saying militants raked two cars carrying four American advisers "as they left their hotel on their way to work." Last week, the Yemeni government said it had intensified efforts to take back southern towns from Islamist insurgents with airstrikes and ground assaults that left dozens of people dead, including some civilians, according to officials and witnesses on the ground. The escalation came shortly after John O. Brennan, President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, visited Sana, and less than a week after the disclosure of a foiled plot by Al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to smuggle a suicide bomber aboard a jetliner bound for the United States. The United States has also stepped up drone strikes in Yemen in recent days. The spread of Islamist control in southern Yemen has deeply embarrassed the Yemeni government and is seen by analysts as a source of grave concern to the United States and Saudi Arabia, the two chief targets of the local Al Qaeda affiliate. A group of donors known as Friends of Yemen is scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. The campaign against the affiliate also represents a major challenge for Yemen's new president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took over from President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February after a year of political turmoil.