Al-Qaeda's campaign to demoralise the security forces in souther Yemen has taken a new twist. 

Following a series of assassinations of officers, the militants have issued a list of 55 names – 31 state security officers, 15 members of the judiciary police and nine members of military intelligence,AFP reports.

Those named have been told "to repent in public at Zinjibar mosque [Abyan province] following Friday prayers or be killed". 

On Thursday, a military patrol was ambushed in Moudia/Mudiya in Abyan province. Some reports say one soldier was killed; anothersays three. 

AFP, quoting the SITE intelligence website, says al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for six recent attacks in Abyan. 

AFP adds that AQAP also "claimed a prominent role in 
deadly clashes in the Abyan province town of Loder [Lawdar] last month that exiled southern leaders had said involved autonomist and pro-independence activists".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 11 September 2010.