Yemen Live Blog

Yemeni military officials say 42 people have been killed in heavy clashes between the army and al-Qaeda-linked fighters in the country's south.

The officials say the military used warplanes and heavy artillery in its assault early Sunday on the town of al-Hurur in Abyan province, killing at least 30 militants.

Al-Hurur is just outside the city of Jaar, which is one of many towns in southern Yemen that have been under the control of al-Qaida fighters since last year.

The officials also say 12 government troops were killed Sunday in fighting in the town of al-Code and the provincial capital of Zinjibar.

In the capital, Sanaa, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, met with the new Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

[Source: AP]

Bulgaria's ambassador to Yemen has escaped a kidnap attempt while he was driving through Sanaa, where Oman has closed it embassy and withdrawn its staff over "terrorist threats," diplomats and security officials said.

In Sofia, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov confirmed the aborted abduction of ambassador Boris Borisov and said the diplomat was injured.

"Masked armed men stopped the car of the Bulgarian ambassador to kidnap him, but the diplomat managed to escape and hide in a nearby shop," a Yemeni security official told AFP news agency in Sanaa.

The attempt against Borisov and his wife took place on Algeria Street, a main thoroughfare in the Yemeni capital, at around 5pm (1400 GMT), another Yemeni official said.

The Bulgarian foreign minister reacted in a statement saying: "I am shocked and indignant at the kidnap attempt and violence against the Bulgarian ambassador in Sanaa, Boris Borisov."

According to the Bulgarian foreign ministry, a pick-up truck intercepted and blocked the diplomatic car, driven by Borisov.

The four armed men in the truck first shot in the air and then smashed the front and driver's windscreen of the car.

"They tried to forcefully drag Borisov out of the car, hitting him on the face and arms. One of the attackers entered through the righthand side door of the car and threatened ambassador Borisov with a knife," Mladenov said.

"The rest continued to shoot and hit the car with their stocks of their guns, trying to facilitate the kidnapping. The ambassador managed to resist and remain in the driver's seat, warning them that they were attacking a diplomat."

Borisov will return to Sofia shortly for treatment and the embassy in Sanaa will be closed for business for the next few days, Mladenov told national radio.

He could not immediately comment on the reasons behind the kidnap attempt but urged Yemen authorities to undertake urgent measures to track down the perpetrators and prevent similar incidents in the future.

Borisov, who has been interim ambassador in Yemen since 2008 was appointed ambassador recently and presented his credentials only a week ago.

Meanwhile, Oman shut its mission and withdrew its staff from Sanaa, an Arab diplomat there said on Sunday. 

[Source: AFP]

Gunmen have abducted Saudi Arabia's deputy consul from outside his residence in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, a Yemeni security official has said. 

Police in the city's Mansoura district said on Wednesday that armed men snatched Abdallah al-Khalidi as he was about to get into his car, and sped off with him in another vehicle.

"Abdullah al-Khalidi was kidnapped while leaving his home in the Mansoura neighbourhood of Aden," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said police have launched an investigation into the kidnapping.

"He was taken to an unknown location and we are searching from him," he said. [AFP]

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Yemeni security officials and tribesmen say two civilians were killed during army shelling of an area suspected of being a hideout of armed militia north of the capital, Sanaa.

Officials in Yemen's Republican Guards said Tuesday they bombarded the area in the northern Arhab region where they suspected an armed militia was hiding.

Local tribal leader Hadi al-Garmouzi said the surprise attack killed two civilians, injured others and caused damage. The attack came despite an attempt to arrange a cease-fire.

Yemen's new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, also fired a longtime supporter of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who headed the powerful Military Economic Institution, which took in significant revenues but its budget was a secret. [AP]