Second police officer killed in 1 week in Yemen’s Aden

By Shukri Hussein

ADEN, Yemen (AA) - A senior police officer in Yemen’s southern Aden province was killed by unknown gunmen in the second assassination of its kind in one week, a local security source has told Anadolu Agency.

According to the source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, Seif Ahmed Ali al-Dalei was shot dead while in his car on the road between Aden’s Al-Buraiqeh and Al-Mansoura directorates.

A police colonel, Al-Dalei had worked at a police prison in the latter directorate.

Al-Dalei was rushed to a hospital in the nearby town of Al-Mansoura, but reportedly succumbed to his injuries before he could receive treatment.

In a similar incident last Thursday, unidentified gunmen killed Police Colonel Fahmi al-Subaihi, the head of the Bir Fadl police station, as he was mediating a land dispute in Aden’s western Bir Fadl district.

Al-Subaihi and a companion were both rushed to a nearby hospital, where they soon succumbed to gunshot injuries.

And in February, Hadi Rashid al-Shuaibi, deputy head of the same police station, was similarly killed by unknown assassins -- in the same area -- while attempting to break up an armed dispute over land.

For the last three years, the city of Aden -- which currently serves as Yemen’s interim capital -- has seen sporadic attacks on security forces, judicial officials and religious figures.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains and shoring up the country’s pro-Saudi government.