2 aid workers killed in Yemen

"Sadly, two of our staff were brutally killed on their way back from Saada to Sanaa," the ICRC's Yemen spokeswoman Rima Kamal said, referring to the northern stronghold of Shiite rebels who have been battling loyalists of the exiled president.

The pair were travelling with two colleagues in two vehicles "clearly" marked with the Red Cross emblem when they were stopped in Amran province by a gunman who opened fire at the vehicles, Kamal told AFP.

"One of our colleagues passed away on the spot while another sustained critical injuries and was transferred to an MSF (Doctors Without Borders) hospital where he passed away shortly after," she said

The other two were unharmed, she added.

On August 25, the ICRC said it had suspended its operations in Yemen's second city Aden after gunmen robbed its main office while holding staff at gunpoint.

(File photo: AFP)