SANAA: A Yemeni security official says 12 suspects have been arrested in an attack that killed four South Korean tourists at a historical site.
The official says the arrested are members of jihadi groups believed to have information on the actual perpetrators of the bombing.
Discrepancies remain about Sunday’s bombing that killed the tourists and their Yemeni guard near the ancient fortress city of Shibam. An interior ministry statement says a roadside bomb was behind the attack.
The security official says a suicide bomber blew himself up among the tourists. He says human remains believed to belong to the bomber were found.
The attack, which is likely to take a toll on the country’s tourism sector, came after repeated calls by Al-Qaeda militant leaders to target non-Muslim foreigners in the Arabian Peninsula.
Insecurity in Yemen has affected international companies developing Yemen’s oil and gas sector, while attacks on foreigners — including kidnappings by disgruntled tribesmen — have hit tourism, Western diplomats say.
A newspaper, Al-Ayam, said the remains of an unidentified man were found at the site.
The blast at a tourist site in the southeastern city of Shibam also injured three other South Koreans. The injured and nine other members of the South Korean tourist group left the capital Sanaa on their way home earlier yesterday.
