Briton killed by car explosion in Aden

The man died shortly after he drove away from his hotel, police said.

He is understood to have worked for the Aden-based Arab Company for Inspection and Marine Consulting.

The Interior Ministry ordered a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the blast.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Aden, Yemen, today in a car bomb. We are providing consular assistance to next of kin.”

Police could not comment on any motive but Yemeni officials have blamed a rise in violence in Aden on militants linked to al Qaida.

It is not the first time a British national has been targeted in the Gulf country.

Last October a British diplomat was wounded in a rocket attack on a diplomatic convoy in Sanaa.

It was the second attack on British officials in six months. Tim Torlot, then the ambassador, escaped unhurt when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt the previous April.

Security was stepped up around the United States and British Embassies in the wake of the blast which cast doubts on the effectiveness of the Yemeni government’s crackdown against al Qaida.