ADEN, Yemen – A British shipping worker died when a booby-trapped car exploded in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, local officials and shipping sources said.
A Western shipping source in Aden said the man had just returned to the coastal town after surveying a tanker attacked by pirates off Yemen's coast in early July.
A security source told Reuters he believed the explosion that killed the well-known and long-time resident of Aden was a militant attack.
"We tend to think that it was some kind of terrorist attack because he was well known," he said.
Witnesses said the man's car exploded as soon as he turned on the engine, shattering windows in nearby buildings.
"He started the car and it immediately exploded and he was engulfed in flames," a witness told Reuters by telephone.
One passer-by was critically injured in the blast, which also damaged nearby buildings, a municipal official said. She said it was not clear who was behind the blast.
"It's clear that there was some kind of explosive device placed in his car," the official said.
British embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.
