( CNN ) Jamal al-Labani had hoped to bring his pregnant wife and 2-year-daughter back to the United States from war-torn Yemen . But the gas station owner never made it on a flight back to his home Hayward , California . Family members have identified him as a victim killed in mortar strike last week in the southern Yemeni city of Aden . He is believed to be the first U.S. citizen killed in the current violence in Yemen . Early Tuesday evening , the 45-year-old al-Labani was on his way back from mosque prayers when he was hit in the back by shrapnel from a mortar shell , his family said . He died minutes later . Violence quickly escalated in Yemen soon afer al-Labani arrived in February . `` When he got ( to Aden ) , after a few weeks he noticed things were starting to get bad and then the ( U.S. ) Embassy closed , '' his cousin Mohammed Alazzani told CNN . For the past three weeks , al-Labani had told family members he was concerned about not being able to evacuate as the situation deteriorated in the country , according to his cousin . More than 200 people have been killed in Aden in the past 11 days , according to Naef Al Bakri , Aden 's deputy governor . Two days before al-Labani was killed , he told his family the last option was to try to cross the border into Oman and fly to Egypt , but he never made it . `` The airports got closed and things got worse and worse , '' Alazzani told CNN by phone . `` People were hoping things would get better , but they only got worse and worse . '' Yemen has been rocked by violence and political turmoil for months . Houthi rebels -- minority Shiites who have long complained of being marginalized in the majority Sunni country -- forced Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi from power in January , placing him under house arrest and taking over Sanaa , the country 's capital . Hadi escaped in February , fled to the southern city of Aden and said he remained President . He fled to Saudi Arabia last month as the rebels and their military allies advanced on Aden . Now the violence is intensifying as Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations target the rebels in Yemen with airstrikes . Yemeni-Americans are trapped in the conflict , but have n't gotten enough help from the U.S. government , the Council on American-Islamic Relations told CNN Sunday . Zahra Billoo , a spokeswoman for the advocacy group , said it 's helping al-Labani 's family and the families of other Yemeni-Americans . `` All of these other governments , Russia , China , Ethiopia , India ... they have all been evacuating their citizens . So to say that it 's impossible for the U.S. to evacuate their citizens is difficult to grasp , '' Billoo said . Responding to the criticism , the U.S. State Department told CNN that there are no current plans to evacuate private U.S. citizens from Yemen . `` We encourage all U.S. citizens to shelter in a secure location until they are able to depart safely . U.S. citizens wishing to depart should do so via commercial transportation options when they are available , '' a spokesman for the State Department told CNN in a statement . `` Additionally , some foreign governments may arrange transportation for their nationals and may be willing to offer assistance to others . '' Yemeni-American advocates think more could be done . `` There have been travel warnings to Yemen for a few years now . What 's not clear is , are they saying 'Be cautious ' or 'Do n't go at all ' ? '' Billoo asked . `` It still it does n't sit well with many of us civil rights lawyers who believe that U.S. citizenship should be the ultimate protection . '' Fierce fighting continued across Yemen on Sunday amid an electrical blackout in parts of the country and political moves that could further fracture the already divided military . Intense airstrikes hit Sanaa overnight . Senior security officials in the Yemeni capital said the airstrikes targeted the military intelligence headquarters and the Defense Ministry 's central command , military bases and missile depots . The blasts at the military compounds , which are inside the city , shattered the windows of many homes nearby . Meanwhile , some 16 million Yemenis living in provinces under control of Houthi rebels , including Sanaa , remained without power after an electrical blackout that began Saturday night . In the country 's south , the Houthis remain in control of Aden 's port and other strategic holdings , including the state broadcaster . The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that Saudi Arabia has signed off on the delivery of medical supplies and personnel to Yemen , where the organization had warned that time was running out to save those wounded in airstrikes and ground fighting . CNN 's Devon Sayers , Carma Hassan , Jennifer Deaton , Vasco Cotovio , Jason Hanna , Ben Brumfield , Samira Said and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report .
Jamal al-Labani is believed to be the first American killed in current violence in Yemen . He was on his way back from mosque prayers when he was hit in the back by shrapnel , his family said . The U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes against al Qaeda and other militants since March 2015 as part of a campaign that began with an assault on Houthi rebels who had taken over Sanaa after former