Aden: Suspected Al Qaida gunmen on Thursday killed an intelligence officer in the south Yemen port city of Aden, a security official said.
Colonel Marwan Al Maqbali was leaving his house in Al Qalua neighbourhood when he was fired on from a car carrying gunmen “suspected of belonging to Al Qaida”, the official said.
Two bullets hit Maqbali who died before reaching hospital, and his assailants escaped, the source added.
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been blamed for most of the increasingly common hit-and-run strikes targeting military personnel and officials.
The jihadist group rarely claims responsibility for such attacks, but did admit being behind a brazen daylight assault on the defence ministry in Sana’a that killed 56 people on December 5.
AQAP took advantage of a decline in central government control during Yemen’s 2011 uprising to seize large swathes of territory across the south.
The militants were driven back in June 2012 by a military offensive and the group has been further weakened by US drone strikes.
AQAP is considered by Washington to be the most dangerous affiliate of the Al Qaida network.
