A deadly Al-Qaeda attack this month on a Yemeni defense ministry hospital was a “mistake” and the militant network is ready to pay blood money

A deadly Al-Qaeda attack this month on a Yemeni defense ministry hospital was a “mistake” and the militant network is ready to pay blood money, a top militant commander has said.
  
The brazen daylight attack on the defense ministry complex on December 5 left 56 people dead, including patients and foreign medics from the Philippines, Germany, Vietnam and India.
  
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has already claimed responsibility for the attack and late Saturday its military chief said in an online video the assault on the hospital had not been authorized.
 
"The attack was on the ministry of defense, it was not on the hospital," said AQAP military commander Qassem al-Rimi. "We told them (militants) to be cautious, not to enter the prayer place or the hospital. Eight of our brothers were cautious, and one did not. May Allah forgive him and have mercy on him," said Rimi.
  
AQAP admits its mistake and offers "apologies and condolences" and accepts "full responsibility" for the attack, including the paying of blood money to compensate the families of the victims, Rimi said.

Following the December 5 attack Yemeni state television aired footage from a hospital security camera showing a heavily armed gunman shooting in a hospital corridor. At one point he lobs a hand grenade at a group of doctors and nurses and in further footage a gunman can be seen executing a man and a child.
  
AQAP said earlier this month that its militants struck at the defense ministry a control center for US drone attacks against jihadists in Yemen.