SANAA, 23 June 2005 — A lawmaker from Yemen’s ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party was shot dead in Sanaa late Tuesday, party sources said yesterday.
Muhammad Mujahid Shammar was heading home when unidentified armed men opened fire at his car in the diplomatic neighborhood of Hadda in the capital’s south, a GPC website said.
The legislator was critically injured in the attack and died later in the hospital. Two suspects were reportedly arrested after the overnight shooting.
Motives behind the attack were not immediately known, but party officials ruled out suggestions that the attack was politically motivated.
The slain MP was a well-known businessman who owns the Shammar Trading Group that runs a chain of hotels and stores in Yemen.
In another incident, Yemeni police yesterday arrested a suspect following a blast that destroyed a car and injured three passers-by in Sanaa late Tuesday, police sources said.
The explosion occurred around 10:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) Tuesday near the capital’s university compound. Police sources said the attacker placed a bomb under the car. He had been in dispute with the owner.
