Intelligence officer survived assassination attempt

By Nasser Arrabyee/13/10/2010
An intelligence officer was seriously injured when gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda members opened fire on him in the south eastern city of Sayoun, security sources close friends to the victim said Wednesday.

Two gunmen riding a motor-cycle opened fire on Colonel Riyad Al Khatabi, deputy director of political security office in Sayoun, while driving his car back home from work in Sayoun. The attackers escaped to unknown place.

Last week an intelligence officer was killed in Mukalla city when two gunmen, believed to be Al Qaeda members, riding a motor cycle also, opened fire on him while walking the family.
Earlier, Al Qaeda announced a list of 55 security individuals , by names, in the south of Yemen as their targets.

The authorities failed to ban the motor cycles after more than 30 operations were implemented in the south especially in the province of Abyan using motorcycles . Dozens of people, mainly security men, were killed and injured from the beginning of this year in operations most of them claimed by Al Qaeda.

In an audio tape posted in the Jihadist websites earlier this week, the military commander of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Qasem Al Raimi said Al Qaeda was putting the first steps of establishing an army called Aden-Abyan army to fight the “Crusaders and their apostate agents”.