Al Qaida suspects kill Yemen air force pilot

Aden: Al Qaida suspects shot dead a Yemeni military pilot in the south on Friday, a day after militants launched a deadly attack on an army base and seized heavy weaponry, officials said.

“Gunmen on a motorbike opened fire at air force Colonel Mahmoud Al Naqib, killing him instantly,” an official in the southern province of Lahij said, adding that the assailants fled.

The attack was carried out by militants “suspected of belonging to Al Qaida,” the official added.

Farther east on the border between the provinces of Marib and Shabwa, troops of the 119th Infantry Brigade which was attacked on Thursday by Al Qaida handed over their remaining arms to local tribes and withdrew from the area, local officials said.

Twelve soldiers and 15 militants were killed as Al Qaida seized the brigade’s camp at Baihan in Shabwa province and captured armour and heavy weaponry, a military official said.

Another official said the militants took “30 tanks, 90 military vehicles, 25 armoured vehicles and 28 artillery pieces”.

The militants later handed over the camp to tribes but kept the heavy weapons, officials said.

Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered by Washington as the militant network’s most dangerous branch, has accused the troops of links with the Shiite militiamen ruling Sana’a.