High-ranking govt official injured in S. Yemen ambush

By Murad al-Arifi

SANAA (AA) - A high-ranking Yemeni government official was seriously injured -- and three of his colleagues killed -- in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in Yemen’s southern Amsara district, a local security source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

“Gunmen ambushed Ahmed Salim al-Osaili, deputy governor of Yemen’s Al-Baydaa province, seriously injuring him and killing three of his companions,” the source, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said.

“Al-Osaili was shot while en route to the coastal city of Aden, the Yemeni government’s interim capital, where he was scheduled to meet with members of the Al-Baydaa Resistance Council,” the source added.

The resistance council, which al-Osaili helped establish, is comprised of provincial notables loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

No party or group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Only hours earlier in the same area, a commander of Yemen’s pro-Hadi “Popular Committees” was killed in a similar ambush by Al-Qaeda militants, according to a local source who likewise spoke anonymously due to security concerns.

Al-Qaeda has managed to maintain a significant foothold in Yemen despite repeated vows by Hadi’s government to extirpate the group’s presence in the country.

Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of war since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia group overran vast swathes of the country, including capital Sanaa, forcing Hadi’s government to set up an interim capital in Aden.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Hadi’s pro-Saudi government.

According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict to date.