Gossip Corner: Susan Elbaneh

Relatives acknowledged, however, that Susan Elbaneh is related to Jaber Elbaneh, who is in custody in Yemen and faces U.S. charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Family members said Susan Elbaneh was killed in the bombing.

Susan Elbaneh, 18, a U.S. citizen from Lackawanna, N.Y., who was recently wed in Yemen in an arranged marriage, was killed along with her Yemeni husband as they stood outside the embassy, family members said Wednesday.

Militants linked to al-Qaida launched a brazen attack against the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital Wednesday, firing automatic weapons and setting off grenades and a car bomb in a furious fusillade that failed to breach the walls but killed 16 people, including a newly wed New York woman.

A sophisticated bombing plot carried out against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen brings increased urgency to fears that Muslim extremists are gathering strength in that nation and could make it a headquarters for terrorism.

Ahmed Elbaneh holds a photo of his sister, Susan Elbaneh, left, with her cousin Tofeek Elbaneh, right, at his home in Lackawanna, N.Y., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008.

SAN’A, Yemen — At least 25 militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda have been arrested in connection with the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, a senior security official said Thursday.

The attackers, some dressed in army uniforms, were stopped short of the compound’s walls by guards and massive security barriers, but civilians waiting in line for visas outside the embassy were among the casualties.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to press.

Also Thursday, an Associated Press reporter who visited the embassy saw a group of non-Yemeni men investigating the damage caused by the attack outside the embassy’s large walls, which stand about a 100 meters away from the compound’s main building.

Ahmed Elbaneh said she planned to return to New York with her new husband, finish school and become a nurse.

It is not unusual for authorities in Yemen, a key partner in the U.S.-led war on terror but for years an al-Qaeda stronghold, to round up a large number of suspects in the wake of a terror attack.

Two FBI agents who arrived to speak with family members at the home would not comment beyond saying they were there to talk to the family.

They stressed that had nothing to do with Susan, saying she was an innocent victim of Wednesday’s attack.

Snipers hidden across the street fired on emergency personnel rushing to the scene.

But American officials have long been frustrated over what is seen as a “revolving door” policy toward al-Qaeda militants by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government.

Palls of black smoke rose over the street, lined with modern buildings in the style of the centuries-old white-trimmed mud brick houses that are a landmark of San’a’s Old City.

But American officials have long been frustrated over what is seen as a “revolving door” policy toward al-Qaida militants by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government.

Six attackers, six Yemeni guards and four civilians were killed.

There were widespread reports of security officials’ collusion in the escape, and experts say Yemen’s security and intelligence services are riddled with militant sympathizers.

Those already in the country, it said, should monitor the embassy’s website and “make emergency contingency plans.”

Some Yemeni security officials said a local militant group called Islamic Jihad, which Yemeni authorities have cracked down on previously, claimed responsibility.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning, asking American citizens to “defer nonessential travel” to Yemen.

They were apparently there to do paperwork for the husband’s move to the U.S. when the attackers struck, said Elbaneh’s brother, Ahmed.

There were also a small crater just outside the walls and at least a dozen badly damaged cars, with their windows missing and tires melted.

She had been in Yemen for a month for the marriage on Aug. 25.

The U.S. counts Yemen as an ally in the war on terrorism.

The U.S. Embassy has been attacked four times since 2003, most recently in March when a volley of mortars targeting the compound hit a neighboring girls high school instead, killing a Yemeni guard and wounding dozens of girls.

But American officials have increasingly grumbled over what they see as Yemen’s failures to keep suspects in custody and its willingness to compromise with militants.

It was the deadliest direct assault on a U.S. Embassy in a decade claiming the lives of six attackers, six Yemeni guards and four civilians.