Assassinate military officer in Yemen

Unknown gunmen shot dead a military intelligence officer in Yemen's southern province of Lahj on Thursday morning, a government official told Xinhua. Mohamed al-Kuby was shot dead when he was driving to the workplace in central Lahj province, the local government official said on condition of anonymity. "He was killed by unknown gunmen. Five bullets were fired on him from a machine gun," the government source said. The security authorities are searching for the attackers, but so far no one has been arrested, according to the official. On Wednesday, three military pilots of the Yemeni air forces were shot dead by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in the country's restive southern province of Lahj. Yemeni security services have repeatedly blamed militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot for a series of assassination attacks, mostly in the country's southern regions. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in January 2009, is considered the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and its neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The AQAP underscores the challenges faced by Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who came to power after winning support from major Yemeni political forces, the United States and Saudi Arabia in February 2012. Hadi is tasked with restoring security and stability to Yemen and putting an end to growing influence of al-Qaida that also threatens daily oil shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.