Suspected al Qaeda suicide bombing kills 9 in Yemen

By Mohamed Sudam

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen said seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis were killed in a suspected al Qaeda suicide car bomb attack on their convoy in the province of Marib on Monday.

Six Spanish tourists were wounded in the attack and were taken to hospitals in Sanaa and Marib, about 95 miles east of the capital, the official Saba news agency quoted an Interior Ministry source as saying.

"Preliminary information indicates that al Qaeda is behind this cowardly terrorist attack," the source said.

The bomber targeted the tourists after their vehicles left a temple in Marib at about 5:30 p.m. (10:30 EDT), the source said.

Two of their Yemeni drivers and tourist guides were killed and two were wounded.

"The security bodies will spare no effort to track down the terrorist elements behind this criminal act and present them to justice for a deterring punishment," the source said.

Security sources told Reuters earlier the attack followed an al Qaeda statement last week demanding the release of some of its members jailed in Yemen and warned of unspecified actions.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said the tourists were accompanied by Yemeni security personnel when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into their convoy as they left the Queen of Sheba Temple.

"The convoy they were traveling in was made up of four vehicles with Yemeni security ahead of and behind them," he told reporters.

"A suicide car drove into the two central vehicles causing the death of seven tourists and injuring another six, one of them seriously."

PRISON ESCAPEE

Residents said body parts were strewn around the charred and damaged vehicles used by the Spaniards. One resident said the blast was very strong and had been heard miles away.

Security measures around foreign interests and tourist sites were intensified after the attack, one security source said. Another said the bomber might be one of 13 convicted al Qaeda members who escaped from prison in 2006.

Yemen is the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism launched after the September 11 attacks on the United States and has been battling Islamic militants for years.

The security sources said al Qaeda also demanded that Sanaa reconsider its cooperation with Washington.