Four South Korean tourists and their guide were killed by a bomb while watching the sunset at a historic desert city in Yemen, officials said yesterday, as Seoul sent a team to probe the attack.
The bomb on Sunday evening killed two men and two women who were among a group of South Korean tourists visiting Shibam in southeastern Hadramawt Province, a Yemeni interior ministry spokesman said.
The group’s Yemeni guide, wounded in the attack, died later in hospital, the spokesman said, as cited by the official Saba news agency.
Five other South Koreans — three women and two men — and a Yemeni were wounded, he said.
Yemeni officials had earlier given the toll as four South Korean tourists killed and four wounded.
On Sunday, a Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the blast was caused by a bomb.
“The explosion happened as they were gathered on a hill called Khazzan that overlooks the city. They were on foot and taking pictures of the buildings in Shibam at the moment the sun went down,” he said.
In Seoul, a foreign ministry statement confirmed the death of two South Korean men and two women in an explosion.
The 11 other members of the tour group were flown to the capital Sanaa on a special plane provided by Yemeni authorities.
The wounded are in hospital but not in critical condition, a ministry official told Yonhap news agency.
The Seoul government called an emergency meeting of security and other agencies and yesterday ordered a four-person team to the country, made up of two foreign ministry officials as well as representatives of the national police and the intelligence agency.
“The government expresses deep condolence to the victims and the bereaved families,” ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a statement.
The ministry designated the entire country as a “travel restriction” area and strongly advised its citizens to avoid it.
“When most tourists had got off the jeep and were enjoying the sunset and the surroundings, there was suddenly a bomb explosion. In a second, a hellish situation followed,” travel agent Ma Kyong-chan, who organized the trip, told Yonhap.
Shibam, some 800km southeast of Sanaa, is a UNESCO world heritage site well known for its high-rise mud-brick buildings.
In January last year two Belgian tourists were shot dead along with their local guide and driver in Hadramawt.
Two months later the US embassy was the target of mortar fire that missed and hit a school, killing two people.
A car bomb attack in Marib, also east of Sanaa, in July 2007 killed eight Spanish holidaymakers and two Yemeni drivers.
That attack took place at the entrance to Mahram Bilqis, an ancient temple that legend says belonged to the Queen of Sheba.
In January the local al-Qaeda branch announced in a video message posted on the Internet the merging of the Saudi and Yemeni branches into “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” led by a Yemeni called Nasser al-Wahaishi.
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
CRACKDOWN: The Indonesian president vowed to clamp down on ‘treason and terrorism,’ while acceding to some protest demands to revoke lawmaker benefits Protests in Indonesia over rising living costs and inequality intensified overnight, prompting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to cancel a planned trip to China, while demonstrators reportedly targeted the homes of the finance minister and several lawmakers. Rioters entered Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s residence near Jakarta early yesterday, but were repelled by armed forces personnel, Kompas reported. Items were taken from the homes of lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni and two others, according to Detik.com. The reports of looting could not be independently verified, and the finance ministry has not responded to requests for comment. The protests were sparked by outrage over
RSS