Soldiers involved in the murder of a civilian in Yemen’s interim capital Aden have fled the city and escaped responsibility for the crime, according to a security official in the city. 

Mohammed Al-Junaidi, 29, was shot dead by a member of the Security Belt Forces (SBF), the elite paramilitary wing of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) that controls Aden, after confronting seven soldiers for speeding down a busy street in the Abdul Aziz neighborhood in Mansoura district.

A surveillance camera documented the altercation between Al-Junaidi, standing on an island in the center of the street, and the soldiers. One of the soldiers, Nasser Mustafa Al-Ja'ari, is seen jumping out of a military truck and kicking Al-Junaidi before shooting him point blank. Al-Ja’ari and the other soldier’s then jump back in the truck and flee the scene.

Without specifying where they were going, Al-Ja'ari and some of the soldier present during the shooting left Aden two days after the incident, another Adeni security official familiar with the case said. Al-Ja’ari may have fled to a governorate other than Abyan, where he is from, the official said, adding that no arrests have been made.

Rumours that an existing dispute between Al-Junaidi and the gunman led to the shooting are false, the official said, claiming that Al-Junaidi had directed his frustration at all of the soldiers in the truck. 

An eyewitness at the site of the murder told Almasdar Online that Al-Junaidi was walking down the road, when a military truck passing by splashed dirty water onto his clothes.

Al-Junaidi expressed his annoyance at the soldiers, which apparently upset them. The dispute erupted before they all climbed out of the vehicle, the witness said.

This is the second time a civilian has been shot dead by an SBF member in Aden for criticizing the driver of a speeding military vehicle. The last incident was in the Al-Sawlaban neighborhood of Khormaksar district.

Last week, Hani Bin Brik, vice president of the UAE-backed STC, said that all soldiers in the vehicle had been arrested and dismissed from their posts. After initially claiming that the altercation between Al-Ja’ari and Al-Junaidi was due to a family dispute, Ben Brik said the soldiers were being investigated.