9 killed in Yemeni al-Qaeda attack on Spanish tourists
Afp, Sanaa
Seven Spanish tourists and two Yemeni drivers were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into their convoy at an ancient temple in Yemen, officials said. The interior ministry said the bombing in the restive northeastern region of Marib appeared to be the work of the al-Qaeda network. "Preliminary information indicates that the al-Qaeda organisation is behind the cowardly attack," an interior ministry official told the state Saba news agency. "This criminal attack has killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemeni nationals who worked as drivers and tourist guides, and wounded six Spanish tourists and two (Yemeni) nationals." It was one of the deadliest bombings targeting foreigners in Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and drew the condemnation of Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. "I wish to condemn most firmly this terrorist act and pass on my condolences to the families of the victims," Moratinos said in Madrid. Spanish high court judge Fernando Andreu said the Spanish legal authorities were launching a preliminary terrorism investigation into the attack.
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