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U.S. citizen detained in Yemen's rebel-held capital

Xinhua, September 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

A United States citizen working as a teacher in a private English language school in the Yemeni capital Sanaa has been detained, witnesses and a security official said on Wednesday.

"Peter Willems was teaching his Yemeni students in the class when 10 armed men in plain clothes stormed the school and forced him out into one of their cars on Tuesday," a bodyguard of the school said.

A security official loyal to Shiite Houthi armed group, which is controlling Sanaa and government institutions, told Xinhua that "the American teacher was held inside the building of the National Security Service (intelligence) in the old city of Sanaa to ensure that the Saudi-led coalition warplanes will not hit the building or the old city again."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, fighter jets from the coalition hit the intelligence building 10 times, causing large damage to nearby residents' homes that led to the death of a 50-year-old husband and his wife was fatally injured, according to the residents, medics and officials.

Houthi-controlled Saba news agency cited a security official of the intelligence service as saying that "the service is not a military establishment to be repeatedly targeted by Saudi aggression warplanes, but a security apparatus specializing in combating terrorism and is holding al-Qaida terrorist suspects and foreigners on charges of spying, including Americans."

Security situation in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out after the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, stormed through Sanaa and forced internationally-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour into exile.

The move triggered a military air force intervention by the Saudi-led coalition to fight against the rebels and restore Hadi and his government to the capital.

The outbreak of war prompted foreign countries to close their embassies and evacuate their staff.

The war has killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians, injured about 35,000 others and displaced over three million, according to statistics from humanitarian agencies. Endit