Suspected al-Qaeda militants ambushed and killed three senior security officials along with several guards yesterday near the Saudi border in Yemen's south-eastern Hadramawt province. The dead included the chief of political security for Hadramawt, the regional security chief and the head of the regional criminal investigation division. Reports: AFP, BBC, New York Times.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 4 November 2009. 

UPDATE at 0820 GMT: In an unrelated incident, Houthi rebels from northern Yemen appear to have carried out their first attack inside Saudi territory. A Saudi security officer has reportedly been killed and the rebels claim to have captured a mountainous area known as Jabal al-Dukhan.