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US Citizen Killed by Mortar Strike Amid Ongoing Violence in Yemen - Reports

© REUTERS / Nabeel QuaitiSmoke rises from an arms depot at the Jabal Hadeed military compound in Yemen's southern port city of Aden
Smoke rises from an arms depot at the Jabal Hadeed military compound in Yemen's southern port city of Aden - Sputnik International
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A gas station owner reportedly has been identified as the first US citizen believed to have been killed in airstrikes conducted by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Gas station owner Jamal al-Labani has been identified as the first US citizen believed to have been killed in airstrikes conducted by a Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen, CNN reports.

US Department of State spokesperson Marie Harf said the White House does not have plans to evacuate US citizens from the war-torn Yemen. - Sputnik International
Washington Has No Evacuation Plans for US Citizens Stranded in Yemen
According to the TV network, 45-year-old al-Labani was killed in a mortar strike in the southern city of Aden last week, when he was on his way back from mosque prayers.

Family members told CNN that al-Labani had been trying to get back to his home in Hayward, California, since February.

"When he got [to Aden], after a few weeks he noticed things were starting to get bad and then the [US] Embassy closed," al-Labani's cousin, Mohammed Alazzani, told CNN on Sunday.

According to Alazzani, al-Labani was going to try to cross the border into Oman and fly to Egypt two days before he was killed.

"People were hoping things would get better, but they only got worse and worse," Alazzani said, explaining that the airports shut down and his cousin never made it back home.

A US State Department spokesperson told CNN in a statement that there are currently no plans to evacuate private US citizens from Yemen. They are being encouraged to leave Yemen using "commercial transportation" or take advantage of evacuation assistance provided by foreign governments.

Yemen is currently engulfed in a violent confrontation between Houthi rebels, who forced the Yemeni government to resign in January, and the troops loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has fled the country amid hostilities.

Saudi Arabia and several other countries formed a coalition and started carrying out airstrikes against Houthis on March 25, following Hadi's request for military aid.

Over 500 people, including 90 children, have been killed and about 1,700 were wounded in Yemen in the past two weeks, according to UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos.

Russia has evacuated over 500 people, including foreign nationals, from Yemen in the past few days.

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