ADEN, June 25 (Reuters) – A correspondent for Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya television in Yemen was killed when a bomb planted on his car exploded, the network said on Thursday.
It said Mohammed Aydah, a Yemeni who reported for Al Arabiya and its sister channel Al Hadath, was killed late on Wednesday in the city of Mukalla, in Yemen’s eastern Hadramout governorate.
Al Arabiya said Mukalla’s security authorities had warned Aydah approximately a month ago that his life was under threat, without elaborating. No group has claimed responsibility.
The killing comes against the backdrop of political tensions in the country after clashes between Saudi-backed forces under the command of Yemen’s internationally recognised government and UAE-backed separatists flared up between November and January.
The fighting saw Mukalla switch hands between the separatists, known as the Southern Transitional Council, and the Saudi-backed forces, who are now in control.
The STC in a statement condemned the assassination, saying the attack signalled broader security issues in Hadramout, which it blamed on the dismantling of units under its command that had helped oust al Qaeda from the region in 2016.
The head of Yemen’s presidential leadership council, Rashad al-Alimi, directed the formation of a high-level joint committee to investigate the killing and said that the state would spare no effort in pursuing the perpetrators.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi forces captured Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene.
The country remains one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Yemen and Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Editing by Alison Williams)
