U.S. expresses condolences to S. Korean victims of terrorism in Yemen

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Wednesday expressed condolences to the
South Korean victims of suicide bomb attacks in Yemen Sunday, calling for
strengthened international cooperation to cope with growing terrorism.

"These two particular incidents are very troubling. And, you know, our sympathies
go out to, you know, the people of South Korea," State Department spokesman
Robert Wood said, referring to the four South Korean tourists killed in the
attack at a tourist attraction and the suicide bomb attack later in the day on a
convoy of the victims' families and South Korean officials who were looking into
the earlier incident. A Yemeni broke into the three-car convoy heading to an
airport and blew up himself, but no one in the convoy was killed or hurt.
Wood said he did not know whether the earlier suicide bomb attack targeted South
Koreans, although Yemeni authorities suggested that was the case and alleged that
al Qaeda was behind the attacks against South Koreans.
"Everyone's trying to understand what's going on on the ground in Yemen," Wood
said. "And we continue to work with the Yemeni government on trying to, you know,
combat al Qaeda. And it's a difficult situation. We're concerned about it. South
Koreans are obviously very concerned."
The U.S. State Department spokesman stressed the importance of enhancing
international cooperation to stem growing global terrorism.
"It's important that all of us in the international community be united in terms
of trying to deal with this threat," he said. "And the threat just doesn't
emanate from Yemen, it emanates from a lot of places around the world. So this is
going to require a great deal of intensified cooperation to fight al Qaeda and
other groups that practice terrorism."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
Move to: