Yemen Car Explosion Kills 2; 3 Hurt

Two people were killed and three injured Saturday in a car explosion in the Yemeni capital, Sana, a security official said.

“The driver and the passenger sitting next to him were killed, while the passengers in the back seat were injured,” the official told the Reuters news agency.

The reason for the explosion was not clear yet, he said. No more details were immediately available.

Meanwhile, kidnappers released a German businessman whom they seized last month in Sana, a German Embassy official said.

The 55-year-old mechanical engineer, who has been identified only as Karl, is safe and was not harmed, the embassy official said.

Karl had been held in the Marib region, east of Sana, the official said.

It was not immediately clear what led to his release. The embassy official said he had no information, and Yemeni security officials declined to comment.

Kidnappings of foreigners are common in Yemen, an impoverished and often lawless country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Five men abducted the German at gunpoint from his car Nov. 28 in the capital’s diplomatic area, forcing him into another car and speeding away.

The Yemeni government responded to the kidnapping with force, twice shelling the stronghold of a Yemeni tribe that officials believed was holding him.

On Tuesday, government forces fired tank shells and artillery at the village of Mahgaza in Marib province, 100 miles east of Sana. The shelling followed a previous bombardment Dec. 1.

Karl works for the United Engineering and Automobile Co., the Mercedes-Benz agent in Yemen. He was seized while Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was in Germany on a state visit.