Suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen killed six policemen Thursday (February 2nd), two days after an al-Qaeda leader was killed in a raid in Lahj province, AFP reported.
In the first incident, a vehicle exploded as a group of about 30 members of the Yemeni security forces travelled from the town of Loder to the southern city of Aden, a security source said.
"An exchange of fire with al-Qaeda fighters" followed the blast, the source said, adding that "six of our men were killed and others were wounded" in the ambush.
On Tuesday, Yemeni security forces killed an al-Qaeda leader in the province of Lahj during a raid, police said.
Ammar Qaid, known as al-Qaeda's "emir" in Lahj, was killed in an exchange of fire with "counter-terrorism" forces after refusing to surrender, said provincial police chief Saleh Sayed.
The raid in the provincial capital Huta was carried out as part of a vast operation against the extremist group in Aden, Abyan and Lahj, in south-western Yemen.
