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Iranian Foreign Ministry says diplomat injured when he resisted his attackers and was taken to hospital, where he died. |
An Iranian diplomat was killed in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Saturday when he resisted gunmen who were trying to kidnap him near the ambassador's residence, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and Yemeni security sources have said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told Fars News Agency that the diplomat was seriously injured when he resisted his attackers and was taken to a Sanaa hospital, where he died.
"We are seriously following up the dimensions of this terrorist action with the relevant Yemeni government officials," Afkham said.
"Unidentified assailants in a van fired on the diplomat three times as he was leaving the ambassador's residence near a shopping centre in Hadda" - the main diplomatic district of Sanaa - a police source told AFP news agency.
Kidnapping of foreigners in Yemen is common, often carried out by disgruntled tribesmen seeking to press the government to free jailed relatives or to improve public services, or by fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
Another Iranian diplomat, Nour-Ahmad Nikbakht, who was kidnapped in Sanaa last July, remains in captivity.