AQAP attacks American in western Yemen, kidnaps Spanish

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, May 20, 2012- At least three American nationals escaped apparently an assassination attempt in Yemen's western seaport of Hodeida.

According to Yemen's Interior Ministry unidentified gunmen, believed to be suspected al-Qaeda militants attacked three Americans while they were leaving the Hodeida land coast on Sunday afternoon, wounding one of them in his neck.

Al-Eshteraki website reported that Yemeni authorities in western Yemen arrested the attackers.

The website said that the American works in Hodeida as experts in the Yemeni coastal guards.

Meanwhile, a Spanish policeman who was deployed at Madrid's embassy in Yemen has gone missing, his family and Spain's foreign ministry said Sunday, with a newspaper reporting he has been kidnapped.

Antonio Cejudo, 38, went missing on Thursday, a day before he was due to arrive back in Spain for a holiday, his brother Javier Cejudo said in a statement posted on his blog.

The online edition of daily newspaper ABC said the policeman was kidnapped by an unknown group as he made his way to the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in a taxi.

But Javier said its was "premature" to say his brother had been kidnapped.

"It seems unfounded to state that my brother was kidnapped by a group while he headed to the airport," he wrote on his blog.

"We don't know where he is, his mobile telephone is turned off, we can't reach him," he added via his Twitter account.

The policeman has worked at Spain's embassy in the restive Arabian Peninsula state for the past two years.

A Spanish foreign ministry official confirmed that a policeman who was deployed at the embassy was missing but did not provide details.

Spain's foreign and interior ministries were working with Yemeni authorities to locate the officer, he added.