\'Qaeda\' gunmen kill 3 in Yemen attack

Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead on Thursday two soldiers and a civilian in an attack on an army checkpoint in the southern province of Abyan, a local official said. The assailants opened fire at a checkpoint in the Ahwar area, and sped away in their car," said the official, adding that the attack left also three people wounded. "The attackers who are suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda, managed to escape," the official said. The soldiers belonged to the 111th Brigade, whose command in Ahwar came under attack earlier this month with a car bomb that killed six soldiers and wounded 17 others. In other unrest, armed men attacked an office for intelligence services in Khor Maksar, in the port city of Aden, wounding a policeman and a passer-by, a security source said. Guards retaliated with gunfire but the assailants managed to escape, said the same source. Suspected al-Qaeda fighters carry out frequent attacks in southern Yemen, a lawless region where jihadist groups are active. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has intensified its attacks on security forces in Yemen, taking advantage of the weakening of the Sanaa central government since a popular uprising that toppled president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011. Source: AFP