Saudi diplomat gunned down in Yemen (Lead, Changing dateline)

Riyadh, Nov 28 (IANS) A Saudi Arabian military official and his Yemeni bodyguard were Wednesday assassinated by unidentified gunmen in security uniforms in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

A source at the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs told SPA that Corporal Khalid Shbikhan Al−Enazi, working with the Saudi military attache in Sana’a, and his bodyguard were shot outside the diplomat’s home.

A Yemeni interior ministry official told Xinhua: “Gunmen in security uniforms intercepted the car of a Saudi military diplomat in a busy street in downtown Sana’a while he was on his way to the Saudi embassy, killing him and his Yemeni bodyguard.”

The gunmen fled the scene before police rushed to investigate the incident.

Xinhua identified the killed Saudi as Khalid Shibikan Al Anizi, the assistant military attache.

SPA reported that the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs is preparing to move the body to the kingdom.

Prince Saud Al−Faisal, minister of foreign affairs, has condoled the death.

Saudi officials in Yemen have been frequently targeted since the kingdom supported the Yemeni government in its war against the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Saudi diplomat Abdullah Mohammed Khalifa al−Khaledi has been held hostage by the AQAP in Yemen for eight months since he was kidnapped from outside his residential building in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden in March. His whereabouts are still unknown.

IANS 2012-11-28 21:56:25