DUBAI – A Yemeni journalist has been killed by a car bomb in the country’s second city Aden, headquarters of the internationally recognised government, a security official said today.
“Unidentified assailants had planted an explosive device in the vehicle of journalist Saber al-Haidari, who works for a number of foreign media outlets,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said the bomber struck last night as “Haidari was heading home, killing him and injuring others who were in the car”.
He said the attack was similar to a car bombing that killed pregnant Yemeni journalist Rasha Abdullah al-Harazi in November. Her husband, Mahmud al-Atmi, also a journalist, was wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Reporters Without Borders said that Haidari “was killed yesterday night after an explosive device was placed in his car”.
It said he had been working as a correspondent for China’s Xinhua News Agency.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his loyalists to flee to Aden and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led military intervention launched in 2015 has allowed the government to recover Aden and much of the south.
But the fighting has left hundreds of thousands of dead and millions more displaced in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemeni journalists attempting to cover the conflict have faced threats of retribution from all sides. That has included the jihadists of al-Qaeda as well as the rebels and government loyalists, RSF has said.
“Militias subject them to violence and abuse, and they risk being the targets of death threats, murder, or bombings,” the watchdog said. – Bernama, June 16, 2022
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