Suspected Qaida Gunmen Kill Yemen Official
Suspected Al-Qaida gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a vice governor and an intelligence officer in the Yemeni province of Baida, a stronghold of the global jihadist network, officials said.
Masked gunmen opened fire on the vice governor, Hussein Dayan, outside his house in the provincial capital of Baida, one official said, requesting anonymity.
"The attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaida," he added.
In a similar attack, two gunmen on a motorbike shot dead Colonel Nasser al-Ramah near the main public hospital in the center of Baida, another official told AFP, adding that the assailants are suspected of belonging to Al-Qaida.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula launches regular attacks on security forces from hideouts in the mountainous terrain of the central province.
AQAP has been linked to a number of failed attacks on the United States, and the Yemen-based offshoot is the frequent target of US drone strikes.
The group has taken advantage of the weakening of the central government since 2011, when a popular uprising erupted that eventually forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 33 years in power.
Source: Agence France Presse
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