ADEN, Jul 23 (NNN-SABA) – Yemeni security forces detained 12 suspects yesterday, in an operation to track down perpetrators who had shot dead an employee of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) a day earlier, a government official said.
Meanwhile, the security forces’ search operation was still underway to find those who masterminded the drive-by shooting attack, the official said.
The operation was launched early yesterday, upon the directives of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Chairman, Rashad Al-Alimi, who issued a statement Friday night, to voice his strong condemnation of the killing of Moayad Hameidi, director of WFP office in the south-western Yemeni province of Taiz.
The PLC chief’s statement strongly denounced the assassination and vowed to protect humanitarian work in the government-controlled provinces of Yemen.
In a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Friday, Rashad Al-Alimi underlined commitment, to bring the criminals to justice and supporting relief efforts in Yemen.
The UN employee was gunned down by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants, when he was leaving a restaurant in the town of At Turbah, south of Taizin.
Hameidi, who had newly arrived in Taiz for humanitarian and relief duties, succumbed to his injuries shortly after being transferred to a hospital, the WFP confirmed in a statement.
The manhunt for the suspects now mainly target the Sharjab area near At Turbah, where intelligence indicated that the suspects had fled to, according to the government official.
Local residents confirmed that a large number of military and security forces had set up checkpoints in Sharjab to capture the perpetrators.
After the death of Hameidi, the WFP expressed its deep sorrow over the loss of the long-serving employee, who, as a Jordanian national, had dedicated 18 years to humanitarian work in countries that include Sudan, Syria and Iraq.
Richard Ragan, WFP representative and country director in Yemen, called Hameidi’s death a “deep and unacceptable tragedy” and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
UN special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the European Union also expressed their condolences and condemned the killing of the WFP’s employee.
The WFP is dedicated to combating hunger and malnutrition in crisis-ridden countries and regions like Yemen.
