RI condemns bombing of embassy in Yemen

April 21, 2015, 06.53 AM | Source: The Jakarta Post
RI condemns bombing of embassy in Yemen

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JAKARTA. Indonesia condemed air strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday that severely damaged buildings across the city, including the Indonesian embassy.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the embassy building and diplomatic vehicles were heavily damaged and several staff were injured.

“Thank God there weren’t any fatalities. However, two of our diplomatic staff and one other, an Indonesian citizen, suffered minor injuries,” Retno said on the sidelines of the Asian-African Conference in Jakarta, on Monday.

All of the staff had been evacuated to Wisma Duta — the ambassador’s residence — also in Sanaa, and were waiting to be evacuated to Al Hudaidah, she said.

“I’ve just got off the phone with the team on the ground to ask about the condition of the Indonesian nationals there. We spoke about the evacuation to the Wisma and told them to evacuate when there’s safe passage to Al Hudaidah,” Retno said.

The ministry reports that as many as 17 people were on the scene at the time of the attack, comprising four members of the migrant worker evacuation team from Jakarta, one Indonesian member of staff, five local staff, five migrant workers and two students.

From the information the minister has gleaned, an ammunition warehouse located not far from the embassy was the target of the attack, which occurred at 10:45 local time on Monday.

The Indonesian government said in a statement that the bomb attack was further proof that resolving the conflict through violence brought nothing but collateral damage to innocent lives, adding that the best way to settle disputes was through diplomacy.

The government also urged all parties involved to respect the international conventions that apply, especially in terms of ensuring the safety and protection of civilians.

The ministry has so far evacuated 1,981 Indonesian nationals residing in Yemen since last December, with 1,973 of them already back in the country and the rest out of harm’s way.

The Associated Press reported Saudi-led air strikes on weapons caches in Yemen’s rebel-held capital on Monday caused massive explosions that shattered windows, sent residents scrambling for shelter and left a local TV presenter dead.

The explosions were the most powerful seen in the city since a Saudi-led air campaign against Iran-allied Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, began last month. The blasts deposited a layer of soot on the top floors of residential buildings and left the streets littered with glass. Anti-aircraft fire rattled across the city in response.

The Houthis’ TV network, al-Masirah, said Mohammed Shamsan, a TV presenter for another network, was killed and that members of his crew were wounded. Ambulances rushed to the site of the explosions, and al-Masirah aired a statement by health authorities calling on citizens to donate blood.

Saudi Arabia and allied countries began launching air strikes on March 26, hoping to roll back the rebels, who seized Sanaa in September and have overrun large parts of the country with the help of security forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Western governments and Sunni-majority Arab countries say the Houthis receive arms from Iran. Iran and the rebels deny this, though the Islamic Republic has provided political and humanitarian support to the group. (Tama Salim and Hasyim Widhiarto,)

Editor: Yudho Winarto

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