Al-Qaeda suspects gun down Yemen intelligence officer

Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer on Friday in the southeastern city of Hadramawt, a security source told AFP, in the second shooting in as many days. "Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at intelligence officer Omar Mahfudh, killing him on the spot as he emerged from Al-Qatn mosque," the source said, adding Al-Qaeda was behind the shooting. On Thursday night retired army colonel Abdel Magid Abdullah, 70, was killed in similar circumstances by gunmen who fled on a motorcycle in Huta, capital of the southern province of Lahj. The shootings are the latest in a wave of almost daily attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda in recent weeks against army and intelligence officers in southern Yemen. Al-Qaeda strengthened its presence in south and eastern Yemen, taking advantage of the weakness of the central authority mainly during the 2011 uprising that forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.