TAIZ — On Sunday morning unidentified men murdered an American teacher, Joel Shrun, head of the English department at a Swedish-run language center, while he was going to work in Al-Maassel valley, in the west of Taiz.

Security sources said that the armed assailants showered Shrun with bullets from a motorbike.

It is unprecedented incident against foreigners in Taiz, which has been known as Yemen’s civilized city and a hometown for many Yemeni intellectuals and is a center of culture.

The murder is a part of the growing insecurity in Taiz. Over the past past year gangs and armed men walking around the city have become and increasingly familiar sight, with no one to stop them or disarm them, locals say.

The security source said that policemen in the city are still pursuing the murderers to bring them to justice.

He went on saying that, “there are parties in Taiz who are seeking to make Taiz similar to what is taking place in Abyan and Al-Baida, utilizing workers’ strikes and protests at the state’s institutions.”

He called on all parties to work together in implementing the GCC Initiative to restore security and stability.

Insecurity threatens businesses

The people of Taiz have been in a state of panic and fear as a result of deteriorating security conditions, and the spread of armed men and gangs that rob and plunder property at the street and neighborhood levels of the city. Meanwhile security services and local authorities appear to many to have turned a blind eye to the growing insecurity.

On Saturday, Taiz's Commerce and Industry Chamber issued a statement in which it warned against the impact of insecurity on commercial activities, and stressing that the turmoil will negatively affect investment in the governorate.

The statement demanded that local authorities, the interim government, and President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi promptly put an end to the deteriorating security situation.

Businessmen who are members of the chamber of commerce have warned that major investors and merchants in the governorate will suspend their trading activities because of concern about security risks in Taiz.

The statement was issued after unknown assailants threw a hand grenade which exploded in front of a house belonging to businessman Shawqi Hail Saeed on Saturday.

The unidentified assailants reportedly threw the grenade from a Hilux (pickup) truck. The incident has sparked resentment among citizens in Taiz, a number of whom proceeded to rally before Saeed's house to express solidarity with him.

In a remark to the Yemen Times, Zaid Al-Nahari, a spokesman from Hail Saeed's trading group, said that the “brutal assault” came as the result of insecurity in Taiz and the spread of chaos, adding that the blast shattered windows on the southern side of the house while Saeed was at home.

He further added that the event provoked panic and fear throughout the neighborhood.

Al-Nahari called on all security services and local authorities to assume their responsibilities to maintain the city's security and stability and to arrest criminals and bring them to justice.

"How can we protect ourselves and our funds with such insecurity in the governorate?" wondered businessman Mohammad Al-Selwi, who went on to point out that a gang had kidnapped a young employee from his shop at Al-Rahida in Taiz.

"What happened to Mr. Saaed was a message to all people, as he bears no enmity towards any person and all the people of Taiz like and respect him," he said.

"What advantages have we taken from the GCC Initiative and the presidential elections except the insecurity which has spread through Abyan, Al-Baida and Taiz?" he asked.