The Saudi Government retaliated by evicting 700,000 to a million Yemeni workers, people sending home hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances a year.

Remittances - money sent home by Yemeni workers, mostly in Saudi Arabia - are estimated at $2 billion a year, representing the nation's largest source of income.

In addition to withdrawing this aid, Saudi Arabia expelled almost 1 million Yemeni workers.

By late November some 800,000 Yemeni workers had returned home from Saudi Arabia, with adverse consequences for Yemen's vital remittance income.

Saudi officials say they are tightening controls on Yemeni workers in particular, because they assert Yemen has shown itself to be sympathetic to Iraq.

Saudi Arabia evicted as many as 800,000 Yemeni workers in 1990 to punish Yemen for supporting Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Kuwait responded by cancelling aid programs, cutting diplomatic contact, and expelling thousands of Yemeni workers.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the kingdom was undermining his nation's stability by forcing 500,000 Yemeni workers to leave.

Saudi Arabia has forced 500,000 Yemeni workers to leave.

The assailant also killed a Yemeni worker who pursued him, then shot himself, Mr. Oberwetter said.