AN employee of the German embassy in Yemen has been gunned down by unknown assailants in the capital Sanaa.

The German foreign ministry confirmed the death, saying the victim was a civil servant working in security at the embassy. He had been identified previously as a bodyguard.

The ministry and the embassy remained in contact, and Yemeni authorities also are involved, as it tries to clarify the facts and determine the circumstances behind the shooting, a spokeswoman for the ministry said.

The ministry spokeswoman rejected reports that the shooting occurred during an attempted kidnapping.

The independent website Almasdar Online said the shooting occurred in the Haddah district of the capital on Sunday and said it happened during an attempted abduction, citing witnesses and an unnamed diplomatic source.

The embassy reopened in mid-August, almost two weeks after a terrorist threat prompted the closure of Western missions in the region and other parts of the world. German ambassador Carola Mueller-Holtkemper took up her posting in Sana'a on September 30.

Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, one of most dangerous branches of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, is active in Yemen.

Originally published as German embassy staffer shot dead in Yemen