All German employees of government-funded aid and development organizations must leave Yemen "as quickly as possible", a foreign ministry spokesman told reporters.

The German embassy in the Yemeni capital will operate "in emergency mode with reduced personnel" and with appropriate security measures, he added.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is "extremely shocked" by the deaths of two German doctors in Thursday's attack on a Yemeni defense complex, government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference.

She and the government "condemn the terrorist attack in the strongest terms", he said.

NJF/NJF