Suspected al-Qaida militants kill senior Yemeni army officer

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Suspected al-Qaida militants shot dead a senior officer of the Yemeni army forces in the southern province of Lahj on Sunday afternoon, a police official said. The assailants, who are believed to be linked to the al-Qaida terrorist group, opened fire at the military vehicle while the officer was leaving the Anad's military air base in Lahj province, killing him at the scene, the local police official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The gunmen, armed with machine guns, killed the army officer near the main gate of the air forces base before fleeing the scene by motorbikes," the official said.

Lahj, some 337 km south of the capital Sanaa, is also a key stronghold of the separatist Southern Movement.

Several members of the state security and intelligence units in a number of southern provinces have been killed over the past few months in similar attacks that were probably carried out by the Yemeni-based regional terrorist network -- al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The terrorist group has stepped up attacks on the government security personnel and seized several cities in the country's lawless southern regions, where the central government's control has been weakened by one-year protests against the 33-year rule of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The continued attacks showed the country's fragile security situation just less than two weeks ahead of the presidential elections that aimed at ending the months-long unrest.