Dubai, Sep 18 (IANS) The body of Rani Krishnan Nair, the Indian woman killed in crossfire following a car bomb blast at the gate of the American embassy in Yemen Wednesday, will be sent to India this weekend.“We hope to repatriate her body by Saturday or Sunday,” a diplomatic source told IANS from the Yemenese capital Sana’a Thursday.

“Ramadan is going on now. The first available flight to India is on Saturday,” the source said.

Nair, 26, died after a bullet pierced her head in the exchange of gunfire between militants and Yemeni security forces after the bomb attack in Sana’a.

She was among 16 people who died in the attack. This included six Yemeni security personnel, six militants and three other civilians apart from Nair.

The Organisation of Islamic Jihad, an Al Qaeda linked Islamic group, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was demanding the release of militants being held by the Yemeni authorities.

Nair, whose family had been in Yemen for over two decades, had taken up a job at a private hospital in Sana’a after completing a nursing course in India and returning to Yemen in May this year.

On that day, Nair was on her way to work from her home close to the US embassy when the bomb went off. She leaves behind her parents and a sister, all based in Yemen.

The family hails from Idukki in Kerala.