SANAA: A gunman has killed a Yemeni intelligence official in the country’s south, a hotbed of unrest blamed on separatists and Al-Qaeda, the defense ministry said on Friday.
"A gunman on a motorbike fired on Thursday at commander Saleh Amdheib at the market in Zinjibar," the capital of Abyan province, "killing him instantly, before escaping," said the ministry in a statement on its 26sep.net website.
After the attack, police made several arrests and seized the suspected murder weapon, it said, citing police official Abderrazak Al-Maroni.
Tensions have risen in Yemen’s south since a June 19 attack on the intelligence headquarters in the port city of Aden that killed 11 people, seven of them soldiers.
Authorities said the attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda.
They also accuse the Southern Movement, a coalition pressing for greater autonomy or independence for south Yemen, of links to the terror network, a charge the group denies.
