Violence in south Yemen kills six

A high-ranking police officer, a soldier and four militants were killed in separate acts of violence in south Yemen, a security official and witnesses told AFP on Saturday.

The police official said Mubarak Barafaa, head of a criminal investigation unit, was cut down by machinegun fire late on Friday close to his house in Ghayl Ba Wazir, in the southeastern province of Hadramawt.

He was fatally wounded and died soon afterwards in hospital in Mukalla, the provincial capital, added the official, saying the gunmen "who were probably members of Al-Qaeda" made good their escape.

No group has yet admitted responsibility for the murder, but Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is very active in south and east Yemen where attacks on the security forces are regularly blamed on the jihadists.

Elsewhere, a soldier and four Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in overnight clashes in the southern city of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, a local official told AFP.

The clashes flared after insurgents pounded a military barracks east of Zinjibar, said the official, adding that a tank was destroyed in the attack.

Troops have been trying to regain control of Zinjibar, which fell last May to Al-Qaeda's local affiliates, known as the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law).

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