Sidelights

Yemen officer killed: Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen on motorbikes killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in the central province of Baida, Yemen’s defence ministry and official Saba news agency reported.

“Captain Adel Wali alNahmi, the police chief of Dhi Naem, was assassinated and his bodyguard Adnan al-Qobati wounded in an ambush by alQaeda members,” the defence ministry said in a statement on its 26sep.net website.

Saba, quoting security sources in Baida, said the gunmen were on four motorcycles and fled after opening fire on the officer’s convoy,

Police and army officers come under frequent attack, with authorities blaming alQaeda for the assaults.

In a bid to clamp down on an increasing number of attacks using motorbikes, authorities earlier this year launched a campaign ordering unlicenced bikes off the streets.

Al-Qaeda took advantage of the weakness of Yemen’s central government during a 2011 uprising against now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh to seize large swathes of territory across south and east Yemen. (AFP) 6 killed in attack: Nigeria’s military says that at least six people have been killed in an attack in northeastern Nigeria, a region under attack by Islamic extremists.

Lt Eli Lazarus said Sunday the attack happened Saturday night in Ngalda, a town in Yobe state.

Lazarus said no one has been arrested for the attack. However, local residents say they suspect the radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram carried out the attack. Boko Haram is blamed for attacks which killed 792 people in 2012, according to a count by The Associated Press. (AP)