Did Yemeni Terrorist Attacks Target Koreans?
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
There is a high possibility that Islamic terrorists purposely targeted South Korean nationals in their back-to-back attacks in Yemen this week, Seoul officials said Thursday.
The government, however, is still investigating whether or not the terrorists targeted South Korean citizens as there is no convincing evidence, they said.
``The government is investigating the terrorist attacks with all possibilities open,'' Moon Tae-young, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told reporters.
The ministry asked its missions overseas to beef up security measures for Korean travelers and ethnic Koreans, said Moon. In particular, the government has advised its citizens in Yemen to return home if possible, he added.
A senior ministry official was quoted by the Yonhap News Agency as saying, ``It's too early to conclude the incidents as terrorist attacks against South Koreans, but the possibility remains high given South Korean nationals were attacked twice this week.''
Following Sunday's suicide bombing that killed four South Korean tourists in Shibam, a historic Yemeni city, a suicide bomber again detonated explosives against a convoy carrying three South Korean officials and three members of victims' families to an airport in Sanaa, Wednesday. No one was hurt in the follow-up attack.
The bomber walked between two vehicles carrying the delegation and detonated his explosive belt, according to reports. The impact of the blast shattered the convoy's windows.
Yemeni authorities have attributed the bombings to al-Qaida, believed responsible for a number of incidents, including the ambush of a convoy of tourists in January last year, in which two Belgians and their Yemeni driver were killed, and a suicide bombing in July 2007 in which eight Spaniards and two Yemenis were killed.
Korea designated all of Yemen as a ``travel restriction region" Monday.
Yemen's Interior Ministry said it was hunting for suspected members of al-Qaida said to be plotting new attacks, after the two bombings in a matter of days against Korean visitors, according to AFP.
The ministry is offering a reward to anyone who provides information about people ``recruited by al-Qaida and preparing to commit acts of terror and sabotage in Yemen,'' the official Saba News Agency was quoted as saying.