Two Yemeni policemen killed in attack, al-Qaida blamed

Two Yemeni policemen were killed and another wounded in an attack late Thursday in southern Abyan province, state media reported on Friday, blaming al-Qaida for the deadly attack.

Militants belonging to al-Qaida with AK-47 rifles opened fire at a police patrol in a marketplace in Lodar city of the southern province of Abyan, killing two policemen and injuring another, the ruling party's website, almotamar.net, said.

According to the report, the assailants immediately fled the scene after the attack while the security forces launched a manhunt for the attackers.

Elsewhere in the south, head of al-Dhalee province's police criminal investigations unit Col. Abdulkhaliq Shaee was seriously wounded late Thursday when a bomb attached to his vehicle went off, the portal said.

Citing local security sources, the report said an assassination attempt targeting Shaee was coordinated between al-Qaida wing and the southern separatist elements in al-Dhalee.

The southern provinces of Abyan and al-Dhalee are the stronghold of the separatist Southern Movement, which is for disengagement from the north and the restoration of the southern state after nearly 20 years of unification.

The two provinces also have been the scene of a series of deadly attacks allegedly carried out by the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since early this year, leaving dozens of security personnel dead and injured.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida network leader Osama bin Laden, has intensified security operations and air raids against terrorist groups, after the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger plane bound for Detroit last year.

Source: Xinhua