Yemeni guard kills oil firm employee

A Yemeni guard opened fire today at the employees of an international oil company in Yemen, killing an Indian national and seriously wounding an American, two Britons, a Tunisian and a Yemeni man, security and local officials said.

The US Embassy in San’a confirmed the attack in a message posted on its website and said an American was “critically injured.” It did not mention the other victims.

The incident took place at the Occidental Petroleum Corporation in the Shabwa province in the south of the country, some 300 miles south of the capital, San’a.

Shabwa province governor, Ali al-Maqqdishi, identified the guard as Jamel Mohammed el-Raaie, and said he was mentally disturbed.

A Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to give statements to media, said the wounded were transferred to a hospital in the Yemeni capital, San’a, for treatment.

The official said that the victims were all coming off a plane that was landing at the oil company’s airstrip in Shabwa when the guard randomly opened fire at them. The victims’ names were not known.

The US Embassy has cancelled all travel to the bordering Shabwa and Mariba governates “for the near future” and recommended that Americans avoid the areas, according to the message on its website.

No further details were immediately available.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based international company with oil and gas operations in three core areas – the US, Latin America and the Middle East, including Yemen.