Frenchman killed, three wounded in Yemen

The French head of Austrian energy group OMV's Yemen operations was killed by an armed guard on Wednesday at a company compound near Sanaa. Meanwhile, three people, including a British diplomat, were injured in a grenade attack on a diplomatic car in Sanaa.

Yemen RFI / Emilie Camjusan

The guard was arrested immediately after he turned his weapon on the businessman in Haddah on the outskirts of Yemen.

He opened fire while shouting "Allahu Akbar!" [Gid is Great], security service sources say, but they are unable to say whether the shooting arose from a personal dispute or had another motive.

Police surrounded the OMV compound after the incident.

“According to my contacts this morning, the OMV attack is most likely some misunderstanding between the senior officer who was killed, another who was injured and the security men who belong to the company,” says Ahmed Saif, director of the Sheba Centre for Strategic Studies in Sanaa.

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Ahmed Saif, Sheba centre for strategic studies

Clea Caulcutt

“If the investigation draws a link between this attack and Al-Qaeda, then it will constitute a remarkable breakthrough for Al-Qaeda in penetrating western institutions including foreign oil companies,” he points out.

Witnesses say a rocket-propelled grenade hit a British diplomatic vehicle about three kilometres from the British embassy, also in Sanaa.

"All our diplomats are remaining at home or in the embassy," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague, adding that the attack was a reminder that there is "some way to go" in improving security in Yemen.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Sanaa in April, which wounded three people near the British embassy.

After a Nigerian national was found to have trained with Al-Qaeda in Yemen before trying to blow up a US airliner, Yemen was named as a priority in the fight with the armed Islamist network at an international meeting in London in January.