Less than a day after al-Qaeda militants targeted a military checkpoint in the south-eastern province of Hadhramawt (Saturday) near the seaside city of al-Sihr, where two soldiers and a by-stander were killed, the terror group has targeted a security official in Mukalla, the regional capital.
Major Majid Matayer, Commander in Chief of Wadi Hadhramawt Special Security Forces was killed by alleged terror operatives on Sunday as he was traveling in his car. Mounted on a motorbike, the attackers shot several rounds at the Major before speeding off.
Preliminary reports indicated that a silencer was used in the attack, a method favored by al-Qaeda of late as it does not immediately alert the authorities and thus give militants a chance to exit the scene of the crime without being apprehended.
Major Matayer's body has been moved to the hospital while the authorities are contacting his family and making arrangements for his funeral.
While local officials remain tight-lipped, refusing to comment on the incident, security experts expressed concerns over the seemingly fast advances of the terror group in Hadhramawt.
In control of several villages around Mukalla, it appears as if al-Qaeda is now looking to diminish Yemen security services from functioning by systematically targeting its most senior officials, thus leaving the province weakened and ripe for the taking.
Just as al-Qaeda used Yemen power vacuum in 2011 to seize large swathes of land in southern Abyan, it is now creating unrest in Hadhramawt to move its men to the offensive and replicate its former territorial gains.
It is important to note that when al-Qaeda militants were finally pushed out of Zinjibar and Jaar where they had established their headquarters in 2011-2012, its leaders warned that next time it wold advance against Yemen central government it would do so in a much larger and violent fashion.
Earlier this month, Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in the region distributed leaflets across Hadhramawt and Aden announcing its troops were coming.