Al Qaeda gunmen kill Yemen intelligence officer: security

SANAA: Suspected al Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer overnight in Mukalla, capital of the southeastern Hadramawt province, a security official told AFP on Saturday.

"Al Qaeda gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the officer Ibrahim Bameshel as we was on his way back home, killing him immediately," the official said, adding that the assailants had fled.

Al Qaeda militants were driven out of most of their strongholds in Yemen's south last June in an all-out offensive by government forces aided by local "resistance committees".