Yemen ups security after attack kills 7 tourists

SANAA, July 3 (Reuters) Yemen stepped up security precautions around government buildings and foreign interests today a day after a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis at a tourist site.

A Yemeni government official said DNA tests were being carried out on the remains of the suicide bomber, who struck the tour group at an archaeological site in the eastern province of Marib, to try to ascertain his identity.

A Spanish airplane was due to arrive in Yemen later today to pick up the remains of the three men and four women killed and to take five wounded survivors home.

Security sources told Reuters the attack followed an al Qaeda statement last week demanding the release of some of its members jailed in Yemen, a volatile country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and threatening to take unspecified action.

Locals said body parts were strewn around the charred and damaged vehicles used by the Spaniards. One resident said the blast was very strong and was heard for miles.

Yemen has been widely seen in the West as a haven for Islamist militants, including al Qaeda supporters.

Yemen joined the US-led war on terrorism launched after the Sept.

11, 2001 attacks on the United States and has been battling Islamic militants for years.

It foiled two suicide attacks on oil and gas installations in 2006, days after al Qaeda urged Muslims to target Western interests.

Al Qaeda's wing in Yemen claimed responsibility for the foiled attacks and vowed more strikes.

In 2002 militants bombed the French oil supertanker Limburg off Yemen's coast. In 2000, a suicide attack on the US warship Cole killed 17 US sailors.

Scores of tourists and foreigners working in Yemen have been kidnapped over the last decade by tribesmen demanding better schools, roads and services, or the release of jailed relatives.

Most hostages were released unharmed, but in 2000 a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire and in 1998 four Westerners were killed during a botched army attempt to free them from Islamic militants who had seized 16 tourists.

REUTERS GT PM1445