US helicopter crash-lands after gunfire

A helicopter belonging to a US oil company crash-landed at San’a airport after it came under fire shortly after takeoff today, officials said.

Medical workers at the airport said one foreign passenger suffered bruises, but there were no other casualties. It was not clear who was responsible for the shooting.

A Yemeni security official said the Hunt Corp. helicopter was heading to oil fields in the northern province of Marib when it was fired upon from an area near the airport.

The area is considered a stronghold of Bani Hashish tribe.

The number of passengers and their nationalities were not immediately clear. The US Embassy said it had no knowledge of the incident.

Yemen has long tolerated Muslim extremists. It is also the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaida terror network is blamed for the September 11 attacks.

Last month, a blast caused by an explosive-laden boat crippled a French oil tanker off Yemen, killing a Bulgarian crew member and releasing some 90,000 barrels of crude oil in waters.