Policeman killed in attack on checkpoint in Yemen by alleged Qaida snipers

Source: Xinhua

07\08\2010
Sanaa. A policeman was killed in an attack launched by alleged al-Qaida snipers on a security checkpoint in Yemen's southeast province of Shabwa on Friday, a spokesman for the local police said, Xinhua informed.

The spokesman told Xinhua that "some suspected snipers of al- Qaida group shot dead the policeman this afternoon who was on duty at a police checkpoint located in the south of Ataq, the capital city of Shabwa.

"The spokesman who asked not to be named refused to give further details.With a number of foreign oil companies stationed there, Shabwa is thought to be a stronghold of al-Qaida militants where the most wanted cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi along with some al-Qaida leaders are believed to be lurked in tribal havens

.Friday's attack came amid a series of deadly attacks on security personnel and intelligence headquarters in the country's south during the past two months, which attributed to the Yemen- based resurgent al-Qaida arm in the Arabian Peninsula.

On Thursday, a provincial security official told Xinhua that three soldiers were killed and several others were wounded in an attack by a group of militants believed to be affiliated to al- Qaida in southern Yemeni province of Abyan.

The Yemeni Defense Ministry said later that terrorists were behind that attack.