Gunmen attack Yemen intelligence officials, kill 1

(AFP)

11 January 2012

ADEN — Unidentified gunmen killed a Yemeni intelligence official and wounded seven others in an attack on their mini-bus in the southern port city of Aden, security and medical officials said Wednesday.

The gunmen first stopped the vehicle travelling in Aden’s Khor Maksar neighbourhood in the city centre before opening fire on the passengers, a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said the gunmen fled the scene and remained at large.

A medical official at a nearby hospital meanwhile confirmed one of the shooting victims died from his injuries. The other seven all sustained gunshot wounds, and two are in critical condition, the official added.

Al-Qaeda linked militants have been known to carry out hit-and-run attacks on government officials in the south, with deadly incidents on the rise in past months as militants exploit a central government weakened by months of mass protests against embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Since May, government troops have been battling the suspected Al-Qaeda affiliates, known as the Partisan of Sharia (Islamic law) in the southern province of Abyan, where militants have taken control of the provincial capital Zinjibar and several other nearby towns and cities.