ADEN — Suspected Al Qaeda gunmen have shot dead a police officer in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, a security official said on Sunday, the latest in a spate of attacks against Yemen's security forces. “Gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire (late Saturday) with machineguns at Colonel Shaef Al Nahmi, deputy security head of Shibam,” the official said, referring to the historic city in Hadramawt province. Nahmi “died immediately,” the official said, adding that the gunmen, who quickly fled, “most likely belong to Al Qaeda.” Attacks on security forces have increased over the past week since interim President Abdrabuh Masur Hadi, who has vowed to continue his predecessor's fight against the network, was sworn in on February 25. The extremists have been mainly targeting elite Republican Guard troops commanded by Ahmed, the son of Ali Abdullah Saleh who has ruled Yemen for three decades before bowing to domestic and international pressures and handing power over to Hadi. On Saturday, military sources said that two suicide bombers killed a Yemeni soldier as they blew up a vehicle at a Republican Guard camp in Bayda, a week after a similar attack in Hadramawt claimed by Al Qaeda left 26 dead. Also on Saturday, two policemen with the central security services, commanded by Saleh's nephew Yehya, were wounded when roadside bombs planted in their camp exploded in Hadramawt's provincial capital Mukala. Saleh had declared himself a US ally in its “war on terror” but some of his opponents accused him of exaggerating the Al Qaeda threat in a bid to win Western support to cling on to power. Critics charge he may even have deliberately surrendered cities such as the Abyan provincial capital Zinjibar, which has been under the control of Al-Qaeda linked militants since last May.
