Red Cross delegation head Antoine Grand on Wednesday said the field officer and driver appeared to have been "deliberately targeted," when a gunman opened fire on their car in Amran province.

The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the killings in the "strongest possible terms," Grand said.

The two were driving from Yemen's northern Saada province back to the capital, Saana.

"One of our colleagues passed away on the spot while another sustained critical injuries and was transferred to an MSF [Doctors Without Borders] hospital … where he passed away shortly after," said the ICRC's Yemen spokesman Rima Kamal.

In Geneva, ICRC spokeswoman Sitar Sabeen told the news agency AFP that "we have stopped all our movements in the country for the time being."

Yemenis desperate for aid

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis are in desperate need. Aid agencies have become critical sources of food and medicine after the collapse of central government.

Early last week, the ICRC suspended operations in Yemen's second city Aden after gunmen robbed its main office while holding staff at gunpoint.

Since last year, Yemen has endured widespread warfare. Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who control Amran and Saada, are pitted against forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as well as southern militias.

Last month, pro-government forces backed by Saudi-led airstrikes drove the rebels out of Aden, Yemen's southern port city. Security in Aden remains fragile.

ipj/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)