An Indian woman was among the 16 people killed in a suicide car bombing and gun-battle at the main gate of the United States embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday.

Rani Krishnan Nair, 26, a trainee nurse at a private hospital in Sanaa, died in the attack along with six Yemeni soldiers and three other civilians. Six attackers were also killed.

"She was hit by a bullet and died on the spot," an Indian embassy official in Sanaa told PTI over the phone.

Blast at US embassy in Yemen

Nair, hailing from Kerala [Images], was on her way to the hospital when she was caught in the cross-fire that followed the bombing outside the heavily fortified embassy, six months after one of its residential compounds came under a rocket attack.

Born in Iran, Nair came to Sanaa in May this year. Her mother is also a nurse at a hospital in the Yemeni capital, the embassy official said.

"We are in touch with the family," he said.

Militants have carried out a series of attacks in Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, in recent years.

In October 2000, al Qaeda had attacked American warship the USS Cole, off the southern port of Aden, killing 17 American sailors.