Updated: (Awlaki devotee) Yemeni al Qaeda Fanatic kills French Engineer
update 2: State admits: SANAA - A Frenchman murdered by a security guard in Yemen at the Austrian company where they worked was killed in a terrorist crime rather than for personal reasons as first claimed, the interior minister said on Saturday. “The investigation has revealed that this was a terrorist crime, whose perpetrator had contacts with elements of Al-Qaeda,” official media quoted Motahar Rashad al-Masri as saying without elaborating.
Update: While the state claims he was in a personal dispute with the engineer, a new report by by Barakish also indicates that the murderer was a devotee of Anwar al Awlaki as well as a member of the security forces:
According to sources, that Hashem he joined the security guards of the universe run by the son of the President of the PSO hay 4 months ago.
وتشير المصادر إلى ان حادثة مقتل الفرنسي تزامنت مع الهجوم الذي استهدف سيارة الدبلوماسيين البريطانيين , وان هذا التزامن هو الذي فتح الباب لتحقيق في علاقة الجاني مع الجماعات المتطرفة لتكتشف ان الجاني على علاقة مع العولقي الذي يعد ملهما للجاني و ومازالت الاجهزة الأمنية تتكتم على هذه العلاقة . Sources indicate that the killing of the French coincided with the attack, which targeted a vehicle carrying British diplomats, and that this synchronization is the one who opened the door to investigate the relationship of the perpetrator with extremist groups to discover that the perpetrator in a relationship with al-Awlaki, who is the inspiration for the offender, and still the security services keep quiet about this relationship.
Original: And they justify this as defensive jihad when the poor guy was just working like we all work to feed our families. Xinhuanet
A Yemeni security guard believed to be an al-Qaida member shot dead a French oil engineer inside the headquarters of Austrian oil and gas group OMV on Wednesday in the capital Sanaa, a police official said.
“The Yemeni security guard identified as Shouqi fired 10 bullets on the French engineer and killed him on the spot,” the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding that Shouqi was screaming Allah Akbar (God is greatest) when he opened fire on the French man.
He said other Yemeni security guards of the OMV company intervened and dismantled the perpetrator of his arms and arrested him.
“The murder is being under investigation by the Yemeni police to probe the motivations behind the attack as there are clear indicators that he belongs to al-Qaida cells in Sanaa,” said the official.
There were a series of deadly attacks by the resurgent group on local security facilities and western interests in the country’s south during the past two months.
On Aug. 7, the Yemen-based al-Qaida regional wing claimed responsibility for killing six Yemeni soldiers guarding an Austrian oil company on July 25, according to a statement issued on jihadist forums.
The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said in the statement that “the Sheikh Mohammed Omair al-Awlaqi’s Martyr Brigades set an ambush on July 25 against a security patrol ( guarding the Austrian oil company), killing a security officer along with five other soldiers of the Central Security Forces in Ataq, the capital city of Shabwa.”
