A terrorist attack that included a suicide car bombing, automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades has killed at least 16 people at the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen.

Six of the dead include the assailants but no Americans were hurt, officials said shortly after the coordinated assault.

"The U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, was attacked by armed terrorists," said a statement posted on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen website on Wednesday.

"A number of explosions occurred in the vicinity of the Embassy's main gate and there were several secondary explosions. A number of Yemeni security personnel were killed and injured, as were several Yemeni citizens waiting to gain entry to the Embassy.

Multiple media sources have reported that a group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed six Yemeni guards and four civilians.

A medical official said that at least seven Yemeni nationals, including children from nearby homes, were hurt and taken to hospital.

Ryan Gliha, an embassy spokesperson, told the AP that a second explosion went off after an initial blast at the compound's front gate. Gliha did not know the cause of that explosion.

A senior U.S. official in Washington told the AP that at least five explosions were heard, but the figure may include the rocket-propelled grenade blasts.

There were also unconfirmed reports of a fire inside a building in the compound.

The media is being kept away from the scene, but two regional TV news networks, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, reportedly showed footage of the embassy's front area shortly after the explosions.

The AP said that the footage showed black smoking rising from the area. There are also reports that gunmen in police and military uniforms arrived on the scene after the initial blast and opened fire on embassy guards.

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen has been attacked by terrorists before

• In March, three mortar rounds targeting the U.S. Embassy crashed into a neighbouring high school for girls. A Yemeni security guard died and more than a dozen girls were wounded.

• In March 2002, a Yemeni man threw a sound grenade into the embassy grounds. The incident occurred a day after U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney visited Yemen.

• In March 2003, demonstrators tried to storm the embassy during a rally against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Two people were shot and killed. Dozens more were injured when police and demonstrators clashed.

• In 2006, a gunman was shot and arrested after he opened fire outside the embassy.

• Al Qaeda was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which was docked in the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack killed 17 American sailors. Yemen is the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

With files from The Associated Press