Two Yemeni colonels gunned down in Sana’a

A Yemeni air force colonel has been shot dead in Sana™a to become the second top air force officer assassinated in less than 24 hours.

Armed men opened fire on Colonel Ali al-Dailamy on Tuesday near the military hospital in the capital, a military official said.

Dailamy was instantly killed while the assailants managed to flee the scene, he added.

On Monday, air force colonel Abdulwahab Azzan was also gunned down in Sana™a, as he drove back from al-Dailamy air base, some 20 km north of the capital.

Dozens of security and military officers have been assassinated over the past two years, in car bomb attacks or in drive-by shootings – which are often blamed on al-Qaeda or its affiliated groups.

In late August, a bomb planted on a bus carrying air force personnel to al-Dailamy air base, killed one and wounded 25 others.

On Friday, militants targeted three police and army positions in Shabwa province in pre-dawn attacks that claimed the lives of at least 56 security personnel.

The operation was the deadliest attack on the army since a May 21 bomb attack last year in which nearly 100 soldiers were killed in Sana™a.

MRS/PR