Gunmen kills Yemeni intelligence officer

Suspected al-Qaeda 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-Qaeda", the official said. Two bullets hit Maqbali who died before reaching hospital, and his assailants escaped, the source added. Al-Qaeda 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 Sanaa 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-Qaeda network. Source: AFP