By Charlene Gubash, NBC News and msnbc.com news services
Updated at 9:05 a.m. ET: A gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle shot to death an American teacher in the city of Taiz, Yemen, on Sunday,?a high-ranking government official there told NBC News.
The official said the teacher, an adviser at a Swedish-affiliated institute, died immediately after he was struck by gunfire Sunday morning. Taiz is about 50 miles south of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
Officials from the institute identified the victim as Joel Shrun and said he was born in 1983.
However, a U.S. State Department official later told NBC News it had not yet been able to confirm the victim's nationality. The official said the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa was working with Yemeni authorities to obtain additional information.
Taiz has been a hotbed of opposition during Yemen's revolution. Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the security vacuum in Yemen during the revoltion and extended its presence and authority in the country. Al-Qaida is in control of two cities in the south and have staged attacks on the Yemeni police and military, the latest killing more than 150 soldiers.
The owner of Yemen Post newspaper, Hakim Almasmari, told NBC News he and other local newspapers received a claim saying that Al Qaeda was responsible for killing the American who, the message said, was spreading Christianity among the people of Taez.
The claim Hakim received was in the form of a text message.
The attacks underscore the challenges facing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who took office last month after a year of massive protests against his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The gunmen, who escaped after the attack, were believed to be linked to al Qaeda, the police source said. A group affiliated with the militant network claimed responsibility.
"This operation comes as a response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West has launched against Muslims," an unidentified person said in a text message to journalists, claiming responsibility on behalf of the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia.
Yemen has seen an escalation of al Qaeda violence since Hadi took office in February vowing to fight the Islamist network.
Taiz, 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, is a commercial hub where many foreigners live and work. It was a flashpoint for protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule.
Also on Sunday, a government warplane bombed Islamist militants in the southern city of Jaar, causing people to flee their homes, residents said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Ansar al-Sharia captured Jaar in Abyan Province in March last year after the outbreak of protests against Saleh and have turned it into their main base in southern Yemen.
Daily clashes break out around areas controlled by militants in southern Yemen. A local official said that up to 14 militants were killed in artillery attacks and clashes on Saturday north of the Abyan provincial capital of Zinjibar, the area of Bagdar and the town of Jaar.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, Yemen's neighbor and the world's biggest oil exporter, are concerned about al Qaeda's expansion in Yemen where it has regrouped after suffering reverses in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
In early March, militants killed more than 110 soldiers in twin suicide attacks and said they had also captured some 70 soldiers.
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