Suspected Al Qaeda-linked gunmen killed a Yemeni man working for Total yesterday and wounded a Frenchman and another Yemeni employee of the French oil group, a Total security official said.

The attack took place as they were driving from an oil field in eastern Hadramout province to an airport in the town of Seiyun.

“They were on their way to Seiyun airport. They were 2km northeast of Seiyun when the car came under attack by five masked gunmen with rifles,” the Total official said.
“We don’t know the identity of the gunmen but we suspect it was Al Qaeda.”

A year of political upheaval that eventually unseated former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has emboldened militants in Yemen where they have seized swathes of territory and carried out scores of attacks.

In a video posted yesterday, a Swiss woman kidnapped in Yemen in March said that she was being held by Al Qaeda and asked Swiss authorities to help her.

Yemen is a small crude oil producer but instability on its territory is a potential risk to global trade because of its location on the Bab Al Mandab strait, a crucial trading route linking Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The Total official said the Yemeni who died was an escort soldier and had been sitting in the front passenger seat.

The Frenchman, who was seated in the back of the vehicle, received a gunshot to the leg.