More than 20 armed men attacked two adjacent security/intelligence buildings in southern Yemen yesterday. As many as five people may have been killed.

The attack occurred in Zinjibar (Abyan province). The Yemen Observer says: 

The attackers who were masked and riding motorcycles fired machineguns, grenades and RPGs at the two separate buildings and clashed for an hour with the security forces before they ran away heading to Ja’ar district the stronghold of the Islamic extremists. A security source said they arrested seven of the attackers that he believed are al-Qaeda affiliates.

There was a similar attack on the southern political security headquarters in Aden last month, in which 11 people died.

There have also been at least four attacks on people connected with the army or intelligence in Abyan province during the past month.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 15 July 2010.