Belarusian military advisor shot dead in Yemen

Sana’a: Two gunmen on a motorbike on Tuesday shot dead a Belarusian military advisor and wounded another as they left a hotel in the Yemeni capital, a security official said.

“Two citizens of Belarus working in Yemen on private contracts were attacked near the entrance of the Amsterdam hotel in central Sana’a,” embassy spokesman Nikolai Lyagushin said.

“One of them was killed and the other seriously injured.”

The gunmen fled after opening fire on the experts, who worked as advisors to the Yemeni army, the official said.

The Belarusians were gunned down as they walked out of a hotel in Baynouna street in southern Sana’a. Security forces immediately cordoned off the scene of the attack.

Witnesses said that the two were felled by shots to their chests.

The two men were dressed in civilian clothes, hotel manager Mohammad Al Shami said, adding that they were waiting for two other colleagues to come out to share a taxi.

The four advisors have been staying at the hotel for some four months, he said.

“We heard the shooting. When we rushed out, we found the two in a pool of blood,” Al Shami said.

Two vehicles from the nearby presidential palace arrived around 10 minutes after the attack and took away the casualties and the two other advisors. Many foreign experts are believed to serve as advisors to the Yemeni army, which uses mainly Russian weapons.

Hit-and-run assassinations are frequent in Yemen and are mostly blamed on Al Qaida militants, or stem from tribal and political conflicts.

Last week, a Yemeni MP representing the Al Zaidi Shiite rebels was shot dead in a similar attack.

Abdul Karim Jadban died after two gunmen riding a motorbike shot him as he walked out of a Sana’a mosque.