Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday the assassination of its military diplomat in Yemen will never affect the bilateral relations between the two neighbors, Yemeni state media reported quoting Saudi interior minister Mohammad bin Nayef.
"The heinous crime of killing our diplomat and his Yemeni aide will rather strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the Saudi kingdom and Yemen to mobilize all efforts to eradicate terrorism," Nayef said during a telephone conversation with President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi.
President Hadi called Nayef and assured him that orders have been given to the military committee to hunt the killers of the Saudi diplomat Khalid Shbeikan Al-Anzi and his Yemeni aide Jalal Shaiban.
Hadi also offered sympathies to the Saudi kingdom and vowed the Yemeni authorities will do their best to bring the killers to justice. Gunmen fired at the two killing them immediately in south of the capital Sanaa at noon and ran away.
The state-run Septemebr 26 website reported quoting a security source that the car, which was used by the unknown gunmen to kill the two, was stolen on September 18, 2012 in Yemen's western port city of Hodeida.
Meanwhile, the crime comes as the Saudi deputy consul, Al-Khalidi, is still held by militants who abducted him near his residence in the southern province of Aden in March.
Al-Khalidi has appeared several times in videotapes begging his country to release him.
The Yemeni government has exerted major efforts on his release including tribal mediations but no effort has succeeded.