10 men suspected of assassinating intelligence officer arrested

By Nasser Arrabyee, 15/08/2010
A total of 10 Yemeni men were arrested in Lahj province south of Yemen for suspicion of assassinating an intelligence officer , the ministry of defense said Sunday.

The authorities have begun investigations with the men who are aged between 19-40, said the ministry in a statement published on its website.

The colonel Ali Abdul Kareem Fadhal Al Ban, the director of intelligence in the district of Tuban in Lahaj province was killed on Friday in an ambush made by gunmen after he walked out from his house in the village of Al Hamra, about 10 km south of Al Huta, the capital of Lahj province.

Al Ban, 40 , who was also in charge of the investigations with Al Qaeda suspects and separatists, t survived two assassination attempts earlier this year.

The government accused separatists of assassinating the colonel Al Ban.

Another security official was assassinated last Friday in Al Mahfad area in Abyan province , south of Yemen. The security officer, Sultan Abdul Kareem Al Sharabi, the chief of the information department at the security office of Al Mahfad, was killed by three gunmen.

The local authority have opned investigation to know who was behind the assassination, the ministry of interior said Sunday.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for many previous attacks on security forces in Abyan and Shabwah provinces.

On Saturday, The government said a leading Al Qaeda member surrendered himself in Al Jawf province east of the country.

“The leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, Juma’an Safyan, surrendered himself to the security authorities,” the state-run news agency Saba quoted an unidentified security official as saying.

The surrender came two days after the government distributed pictures and information of the country’s most wanted 8 Al Qaeda members to all security check points.

On July 6th, 2010, the leading member of Al Qaeda in Mareb province Hamza Ali Saleh Al Dhayani surrendered himself to security authorities in Mareb province.