US teacher killed in Yemen

Yemeni officials said on Sunday an American teacher has been shot dead by two gunmen in the central city of Taiz.

A security official said the assailants, riding a motorcycle, shot the man dead in his car in the Sena neighborhood on Sunday morning.

The official said the man was an English-language teacher and deputy director of a local language school called the Swedish Institute. He has been identified as Joel Shrun, born in 1983.

Claim of responsibility

A group linked with the Islamist terrorist network al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the killing.

An unidentified person who claimed to speak for the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) wrote a text message to journalists saying the attack was a response to Christian proselytizing.

Witnesses, however, said earlier the attackers wore the uniform of the elite Republican Guard, led by the son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The region's provincial governor, Hamoud al-Sufi, said an investigation was ongoing. The United States embassy in Sanaa also said it was investigating the shooting.

Taiz, located 270 kilometers southwest of the capital, Sanaa, was a flashpoint for year-long protests against former President Saleh, who was forced to step down last month.

Escalation of violence

Yemenhas seen increased violence by al Qaeda in recent months. Militants suspected of affiliation with the group have taken advantage of the protests against Saleh to strengthen their foothold in the south of the country.

Saleh's successor, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has vowed to fight the Islamist militant group's regional wing. He has called the task a "religious and national duty."

Sunday's attack comes two days after security officials said tribesmen abducted a Swiss woman, also a language teacher, in the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

Tribesmen have denied they are responsible, blaming militants for the abduction.

Kidnappings of foreigners are common in Yemen. Hostages are used as bargaining chips to obtain the release of prisoners or ransom money. Normally they are freed unharmed.

In other violence on Sunday, 16 suspected militants were reportedly killed in the southern city of Zinjibar by missiles fired from the sea.

A local official said heavy shelling of the city's northeastern suburbs had begun overnight. Zinjibar has been controlled by jihadists since May after fierce fighting with government troops.

tj/ipj (AP, AFP)