The identity of a foreigner who had killed two Yemenis during a failed abduction attempt is still unknown, a Yemeni security official said on Saturday.
A foreigner working for a petroleum company killed two Yemenis on Thursday when they tried to kidnap him as he left a barber's shop at the center of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
The foreigner was slightly injured.
"He didn't surrender to police," the security official told Anadolu Agency about the foreigner. "We don't know his nationality or identity," he added.
The official, however, said the authorities are now interrogating the Indian owner of the barber's shop where the event took place, adding that the foreigner is probably a Russian national.
But the Yemen Today newspaper, which is linked to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, said on Saturday that the foreigner was American.
The Yemeni government announced in late March that it had arrested members of a kidnapping ring that had been active in Sanaa, which had sold abductees to other organizations, including Al-Qaeda.
Yemen has been dogged by turmoil since pro-democracy protests in 2011 forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 33 years in power.
In the three years since, authorities have struggled to restore law and order to the restive southern Arabian country.
By Rajeh Badi
englishnews@aa.com.tr
