US, Canadian Oil Workers Gunned Down in Yemen

SANAA, 19 March 2003 — A Yemeni man shot and killed an American, a Canadian and a Yemeni working on a rig run by a US oil firm east of Sanaa yesterday, and then killed himself, a Yemeni official and the company said.

Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co. said one employee was killed in the attacks allegedly carried out by a carpenter working on the premises in the oil-rich Marib province, east of Sanaa.

Another Canadian was also wounded and was being flown to London, a Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The Yemeni official said the alleged assailant, Naji Al-Kumaim, who committed suicide after the shooting, suffered from depression.

“It is believed that he had no political affiliation and that this was a personal vendetta because he kept saying that he was taking his revenge on those who complained about him (at work),” the official told the state news agency Saba.

The rig is owned and operated by Canada’s Nabors Drilling Co., which employed Kumaim, Hunt Oil said in a statement. The suspect allegedly shot the Hunt Oil superintendent and then shot two Nabors employees — both Canadians, the company said.

As the suspect tried to flee, he shot and killed a Yemeni Nabors employee who pursued him, Hunt Oil said. It did not release the names of the victims.

“We express our deepest regret as to the tragic event and heartfelt sympathies to all of the victims and their families,” a Hunt spokesman said.

The company did not release the names of the victims pending notification of the next of kin.

In Ottawa, a Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Canada’s embassy in Saudi Arabia, cross-accredited to Yemen, was in touch with Yemeni officials over the incident.

The US Embassy in Sanaa condemned the attack and called on Yemen to “investigate it fully”. It said in a statement that US law enforcement personnel would help in the probe.

Anti-US sentiment has been running high in Arab countries over the imminent US-led attack on Iraq and over Washington’s support for Israel.

Last December, a Yemeni gunman believed to have links to the Al-Qaeda network killed three US missionaries.

Last week, citing increased tensions in the Middle East, Canada warned its citizens not to travel to Yemen, where many people carry firearms. “The heightened tensions as a result of the Iraq situation, together with increased threats globally from terrorism, put Canadians at greater risk,” it said.

Yemen has seen some of the largest peaceful anti-American protests in the Middle East, over the Iraqi and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

In October, suspected militants attacked a French tanker off Yemen, about a year after suspected Al-Qaeda members killed 17 US sailors in an attack on the US destroyer Cole. A missile fired by a CIA unmanned drone killed six alleged Al-Qaeda members in Marib province in November, including a key suspect in the Cole attack.