Sunday, March 18, 2012

Militants kill American teacher in Yemen

Yemen division 2011-10-23
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(Reuters) - Two men on a motorcycle shot and killed an American teacher in the Yemeni city of Taiz, south of the capital Sanaa, on Sunday morning, a local police source said.

A gunman riding on the motorcycle driven by an accomplice shot the man, an English-language teacher and deputy director of a local language school called the Swedish Institute, the source said.

He said the gunmen, who escaped after the attack, were believed to be militants linked to al Qaeda.
Yemen has seen an escalation of violence by the Islamist militant network since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office last month vowing to fight al Qaeda's regional wing.

Yemen's commercial hub of Taiz, located some 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, was a flashpoint for protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33 year rule, and where many foreigners in Yemen live and work.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Michael Roddy)


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ADEN, Yemen, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Yemen-based al-Qaida wing said Sunday that it had killed a U.S. English-language teacher in the southern city of Taiz.

"Killing the American teacher by our members is an obvious message to the United States to stop interfering in Yemen's internal affairs. This was a retaliatory attack for killing dozens of our fighters by the American jets," the al-Qaida said in a text message received by Xinhua, which did not mention further details.

Earlier in the day, a security official told Xinhua anonymously that two gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead U.S. national working at an English-language institute in downtown Taiz.

The Yemeni Defense Ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website that "security forces were hunting for suspected al- Qaida gunmen who killed the American national in the neighborhoods of Taiz."

On Friday a local security official said suspected al-Qaida gunmen abducted a Swiss woman working as language teacher in the western province of Hodeida and then moved her to restive Shabwa province.

Foreigners were frequently kidnapped in Yemen as tribesmen in the lawless areas often resort to such acts to force the government to meet their demands. Most of the abducted foreigners were finally released unharmed.


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