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German Bodyguard Killed in Yemen amid Conflicting Reports on Bid to Nab Envoy
[An Nahar] Gunmen rubbed out the German ambassador's bodyguard in Sanaa on Sunday, sources said.

Gunmen in a vehicle shot up the bodyguard as he was leaving a store in the southern Hada district, where foreign embassies are located, a security official and witnesses said.

An earlier report said the ambassador herself had been the target of a failed kidnap attempt.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
a Yemeni foreign ministry front man told Agence La Belle France Presse that Ambassador Carola Mueller-Holtkemper "is currently outside the country."

But "apparently there was an attempt to kidnap her bodyguard and he was rubbed out when he resisted."

In Berlin, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said only that the government was "making intensive efforts to clear up the facts."

Medics in Sanaa said the corpse of the bodyguard was taken to the Saudi-German hospital in the capital.

Security forces sealed off the area after the shooting.

Foreigners are frequently attacked or kidnapped in Yemen, home to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) which is viewed by the United States as the network's deadliest franchise.

President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi on Sunday urged security forces to "boost alert levels to restore security and stability" in the face of "terrorist threats", the Saba state news agency reported.

On Wednesday, the pan-Arab Al-Hayat daily quoted Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi as saying that ransoms paid to AQAP kidnappers have helped strengthen the network.

"Unfortunately, the ransoms that were paid to release hostages seized by the network have provided it with the money needed to renew its activity," he said.

AQAP snuffies are still holding Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
's deputy consul in Aden, Abdullah al-Khalidi, whom they seized in March 2012.

In addition to a ransom, they are demanding the release of female al-Qaeda-linked prisoners held in Saudi Arabia in return for his release.

The faceless myrmidons are also holding Nour-Ahmad Nikbakht, identified by Tehran as an administrative staff member of the Iranian embassy in Yemen, kidnapped on July 21.

Posted by: Fred 2013-10-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=377229