Al-Qirbi calls S. Korean counterpart to offer condolences

SANA'A, March 16 (Saba) - Foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi telephoned his South Korean counterpart
Yu Myung on
Monday to express his condolences after
the bomb blast that killed four S. Korean
tourists and injured three others in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramout.

Al-Qirbi
assured Myung that an investigation has been launched into the incident to know
who were behind the road bomb blast that targeted the tourists while they were
visiting a tourist site in the historic city of Shebam
of the eastern province
of Hadramout.

For his part, Myung
praised Yemen's
measures to treat the injured Koreans in the blast and contacting S. Korean
diplomats and taking them to the blast scene.


He affirmed
the attack will not affect the cordial relations between the two countries, saying
terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon that is never restricted to a single state.


Early Sunday
evening, a road bomb went off killing four South Korean tourists along with a Yemen
guide while they were on tourist walk in the
historic city of Shebam
and photographing the sunset at the mountain overlooking the city.

Others were
injured including South Korean visitors and Yemeni companions.

FR







UNICEF report: Children in Yemen suffering



SANA'A, March 16
(Saba) -About 107 per thousand Yemeni children, babies and children under five, die
a day in Yemen's rural areas, a
recent Unicef report has said.

46% Yemeni children suffer from malnutrition, the
report said.

"Half of children in Yemen don't
attend primary school and their issues go unreported either by local or
international media," the report said.

On child full
rights, the report said Yemeni children don't receive simple rights, adding 27 percent
of them have to work where they are usually abused physically and mentally.

Trafficking is
also one of the problems of children in Yemen, the report said.

FR











President Saleh receives letter from US counterpart




SANA'A, March 16
(Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh received
on Monday a letter from US President Barack Obama. The letter deals with
cooperation between the two countries in security field and fighting terror.

The letter, which
was handed over by Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor
John O. Brennan,
praised Yemen's efforts in fighting terror and affirmed the United States' support
to Yemen in fields of security and stability.

President
Saleh discussed with the US
security official enhancing relations and cooperation between the two countries
in fighting terror as well as situations of Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo prison and
development concerning the two countries.

He renewed Yemen's call to the United
States for extraditing Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo, noting that
the country is preparing for receiving them and requalifying them to be
integrated with the society.

He asked the US deputy
security advisor to convey a respond letter to the President Obama. He
highlighted Obama's new approach fro restoring the world's trust in the United States.

Brennan
affirmed his country's keenness on enhancing cooperation with Yemen for
realizing the interests of the two countries. He highlighted Yemen's efforts in
dealing with the terrorist
attack against the US
embassy last September.

MA







Yemeni official reveals Hadramout suicide



SAYOUN, March 16
(Saba) - Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi said on Monday that the
explosion that killed four tourists and a Yemeni guide was a suicide attack by
an al-Qaeda militant, 18, in the historical city of Shibam, Hadramout.

Upon his
arrival to the scene of the attack at a tourist site in Shibam, Hadi called on
the security services to prevent crimes and pursuit those terrorist elements, urging
the security bodies to be on alert for eradicating suspected militants anywhere.

The attack
killed five people, including four South Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide
and also injured three other South Koreans supposed to be identified later
after the necessary investigations are finished.

Meanwhile, Vice
President Hadi held an exceptional meeting with the leadership of Hadramout
governorate and military and security leaders in the governorate.

During the meeting,
Hadi was briefed on more details of the attacks offered by security agencies
and the coordination among different security bodies to investigate the
terrorist accident.

The security
bodies reviewed some photos and reports of the attack and efforts to pursuit
suspects behind it.

In January 2008,
two Belgian tourists were killed in Yemen
in an attack blamed on al Qaeda-linked militants who have launched frequent
attacks on government and Western targets, including the U.S. embassy, a U.S.
warship and a French
supertanker.

BA/YA