* At least 14 killed, seven hurt in bomb and rocket attack
* Militants have stepped up attacks on government targets
* U.S. has been helping combat al Qaeda-linked fighters
ADEN, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda-linked militants
killed at least 14 Yemeni soldiers and security guards on
Saturday in a car bomb and grenade attack on the intelligence
service headquarters in the southern port city of Aden.
More bodies were believed buried under the rubble of the
building, part of which was levelled in the assault, the defence
ministry said. At least seven people were wounded.
The United States has been pouring aid into Yemen to stem
the threat of attacks from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
(AQAP) and to try to prevent any spillover of violence into
neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.
Last year, a U.S.-backed offensive drove al Qaeda offshoot
Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) from cities it had
seized in an uprising against former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
But Islamist militants have carried out a number of suicide
bombings on high-profile military and security targets since
June, exposing the government's vulnerability.
On Saturday, witnesses said militants drove up to a building
owned by Yemen's state television broadcaster and blew up a
military vehicle guarding it outside.
They then moved on to the three-storey intelligence base
nearby and opened fire with automatic weapons and
rocket-propelled grenades.
The attackers also detonated a car bomb next to the
building, destroying part of it, said the defence ministry.
The ministry said the attack killed 14 people and wounded
seven - all of them members of the intelligence service and the
Central Security forces.
A security source and medics said 18 people died.
Resident Ashraf Ali Ahmed, said a loud explosion shook the
area, followed by smaller blasts.
A local security source said the attack carried the
hallmarks of al Qaeda. "The operation seemed to have been well
planned," the source said.
In July, militants attacked a police academy in Sanaa,
assassinating the commander of the southern region.
Washington has responded to the violence by stepping up its
drone strikes on AQAP, which was behind several failed attacks
on the United States, including an attempt to blow up an
airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.