Yemen boosts security after bomb

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack

Authorities in Yemen say they have stepped up security around government buildings and foreign interests after a suicide bomb attack on Monday.

Nine people, including seven Spanish tourists, were killed when a bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a tourist convoy at a temple in Marib.

Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has condemned the attack.

Yemeni officials have said the blast may have been the work of militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Two Yemenis working in the tourism industry were also killed in the attack.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the Yemeni authorities had information that al-Qaeda was preparing to carry out some attacks.

They boosted security measures around oil facilities and government institutions, but the Balqis temple "was not taken into account" as a potential target, he told reporters, referring to the site of Monday's bombing.

Reward

Witnesses to the attack said a vehicle drove through a gate at the temple before ploughing into the convoy of tourist cars and exploding.

No-one has claimed responsibility.

ATTACKS IN YEMEN October 2000: Seventeen US sailors die in suicide attack on USS Cole in Yemeni port October 2002: A similar attack against French tanker the Limburg kills one Bulgarian and wounds 12 others March 2003: A Canadian is killed and another wounded after a Yemeni gunman opens fire at an oilfield east of Sanaa Sept 2006: Four bombers and a security guard die when Yemeni security forces foil suicide attacks against two oil refineries

Mr Saleh has offered a $75,000 (£37,000) reward for information leading to the capture of the perpetrators.

The attack happened as the tourists were leaving the Queen of Sheba temple (known as Balqis in Arabic) in Marib in the north-east of the country, some 170km (110 miles) east of the capital, Sanaa.

Speaking in Madrid, Mr Moratinos said: "I wish to condemn most firmly this terrorist act and pass on my condolences to the families of the victims."

Yemen has faced continuing unrest in recent years, which the government often blames on al-Qaeda operatives.

In recent year's Yemen's government has been fighting Islamists with the help of US special forces based in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa.

Al-Qaeda has demanded the release of militants jailed in the country.