Condition yellow, turns red in a hurry... Go sheepdogs! Americans in Yemen shooting were getting haircuts Associated Press AHMED AL-HAJ 16 hours ago SANAA, Yemen (AP) — One of the two officers at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen who shot and killed a pair of suspected al-Qaida gunmen was getting a haircut at a barbershop when the attempted abduction took place, Yemeni security officials said Sunday. The attempted kidnapping April 24 is the latest evidence of al-Qaidas expanding presence in the capital, a serious challenge to the authority of the already weak central government. It also could strain ties between Yemen and the U.S., which has launched an aggressive campaign of drone strikes against suspected al-Qaida fighters in the country. The barbershop, owned by a longtime Indian resident, is on Heda Street, a commercial road in the southern part of the city where some of Sanaas best restaurants, supermarkets and high-end boutiques are located. The Yemeni officials said the armed militants arrived in a battered SUV and burst into the shop shouting: Police! Police! The officials said one of the two Americans was having his hair cut, while the second waited for his turn. They said one of the Americans killed both militants before the pair jumped into their waiting SUV and drove off. Owners of nearby stores rushed to the barbershop on hearing the gunshots but the Americans already had left, the officials said. Yemeni authorities questioned the two Americans and later gave them permission to leave the country, the officials said. The two fully cooperated with the Yemeni government investigation, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists. Late Friday, the U.S. State Department said the two Americans, whom it did not identify, were at a Sanaa business at the time of the attack and have since left Yemen. Citing unidentified U.S. officials, The New York Times has reported that the Americans were a CIA officer and a lieutenant colonel with the elite Joint Special Operations Command. Yemeni authorities merely identified the two as American security personnel and said the two who tried to kidnap them hailed from the province of Maarib east of Sanaa, an al-Qaida stronghold. They said the two gunmen were suspected members of an al-Qaida cell operating in Sanaa who focus on the abduction of foreigners for ransom. The suspected head of that cell, they said, was killed last Tuesday in Sanaa during a clash with security forces.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 13:29:42 +0000
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