Yemen Intelligence Officer Shot Dead

Suspected al-Qaida gunmen have shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer in the south of the country, in the latest attack on security agents, the defense ministry said on Friday.

Ghazi Saeed Beidaha was killed when two "al-Qaida terrorists" driving a motorbike shot him dead in the southern province of Bayda on Thursday night, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website 26sep.net.

On Thursday the head of the police in the southern city of Aden, Colonel Abdullah al-Mouzai, was also killed when a bomb placed in his car exploded as he was heading to work, police said at the time. His killing was also blamed on al-Qaida.

Al-Qaida militants had strengthened their presence over the past year across the south, taking advantage of a central government weakened by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

But on May 12, the military launched an all-out offensive against them, making significant advances.

Aden is also a stronghold of the Southern Movement that groups activists pushing for greater autonomy for the south and those who want full independence for the region, which was a separate state until 1990.