Two aid workers have been killed in war-torn Yemen's south after they were kidnapped by unknown armed men, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) branch of the Red Crescent said.
In a statement on Twitter, Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) said it "expresses its deep regret and condemnation of the loss of Ahmed Fouad al-Yousefi, Coordinator of ERC Operations in Aden, and his fellow Mohamed Tareq ... in one of the world's most vulnerable and complex humanitarian zones."
The two were kidnapped in the southern port city of Aden and later found dead, according to the statement.Two Yemeni workers for the Emirates Red Crescent were found dead in Aden on Thursday after being kidnapped the previous night.
The bodies of Ahmed Fuad, 42, co-ordinator of the ERC's relief operations, and his colleague Mohammed Tariq, 36, were found at a deserted building in Kabuta city in north-eastern Aden, Capt Abdulrahman Al Naqeeb, spokesman for Aden police, told The National.
“Members of Kabuta police along with representatives of the criminal investigation department found the bodies of the two men. They were blindfolded and bound and were shot in their heads,” Capt Al Naqeeb said.
He said gunmen in a white car kidnapped the two men from Al Mansoura city in Aden on Wednesday night.
The bodies were transferred to Al Sadaqa hospital in northern Aden.
The ERC condemned the killings and said targeting humanitarian workers violated international treaties and covenants.
“Targeting humanitarian workers is a major transgression of international treaties and norms that provide special protection for relief workers, medical personnel and rescue teams,” the ERC said in a statement.
The organisation said its humanitarian work in Yemen would continue “wherever assistance might be needed, despite the risk involved”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also condemned the killings and called for the protection of aid workers.
“Two staff of the Emirates Red Crescent in the south of Yemen were killed. Again (and again) we call everyone to respect the lives and the work of the humanitarian workers,” ICRC Regional Director for Near and Middle East, Fabritzio Carboni, said on Twitter
The ICRC said it was in contact with the authorities for additional information, but would not share any findings out of respect for the men’s families.
The targeting of aid workers in Yemen has recently increased especially in areas controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which includes western parts of the country and the north including Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
Humanitarian agencies have called for their protection as such acts could jeopardise efforts to assist millions of civilians caught in what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by Houthi rebels.
A Saudi-UAE led military coalition allied with the government intervened in March 2015. The war has since killed more than 100,000 people, including thousands of civilians, according to a database project that tracks violence.
But a separate conflict has been raging in the south between government forces and southern separatists, backed by the UAE.
The two parties signed a power-sharing agreement in Riyadh last November, with little sign of implementation on the ground.
Security forces in the south have also come under repeated attack by both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed groups.
The war in Yemen has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 3.3 million people displaced and 24.1 million - more than two-thirds of the population - in need of aid.
