Yemeni officer killed in drive-by shooting
Military officer shot dead in Sanaa, as French security guard working for the EU is also gunned down in the capital.
A military officer in Yemen has been killed in a drive-by shooting in the capital, Sanaa, reports say.
Security officials said a member of the Defence Ministry’s linguistics institute was gunned down in a affluent area of the capital.
The attackers opened fire from a car killing Mohammed Qawza before fleeing the scene, officials told the Associated Press news agency.
In another attack on Monday, unknown assailants killed a French security guard and wounded another.
The Frenchman, employed by a private security firm, was providing security to the European Union’s delegation in the country.
According to interior ministry officials, gunmen attacked their car in a diplomatic district, not far from the French embassy and near the residence of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
French President Francois Hollande described the attack as “cowardly”, while EU foreign representative Catherine Ashton, said the attack was “evil and senseless”.
The reason behind the attack is not yet known, but suspected al-Qaeda fighters have killed several foreigners in Yemen over the past two years.
The Yemeni government has waged a wide-scale assault on al-Qaeda strongholds, killing scores of suspected fighters.
The military said that on Sunday security forces backed by aircraft stormed a hideout in the Naqba hills in Shabwa, leaving six suspected al-Qaeda members and four soldiers dead.
Airstrikes and clashes earlier in the day killed 37 suspected al-Qaeda fighters in the town of Meyfa, prompting some families to flee the town for the provincial capital.
The campaign, which is backed by the US, is part of rolling operation againt the group’s hideouts in Yemen.