A day after Colonel Abdul-Wahab Azzam an air force officer from al-Dailami air-base was gunned down by alleged al-Qaeda armed militant as he was returning home for lunch, officials confirmed that another, Colonel Ali al-Dailamy had died in similar circumstances.
According to preliminary reports, Colonel al-Dailamy came under fire by a group of unknown gunmen near Sana'a military hospital. He immediately succumbed to his injuries.
The assailants managed to escape the scene of the crime unscathed and undetected.
While Yemen is no stranger to such attacks as al-Qaeda has for the past two years systematically targeted military and intelligence officers in such a manner, hoping to instill fear and generate instability within the ranks of the armed forces, the insistence on targeting air force officers in Sana'a, could be a sign of a new terror tactic.
Security experts have theorized that since Yemen had recently acquired several US reconnaissance airplanes, al-Qaeda might be looking to strategically weaken Yemen air force's future by taking down its most senior and capable officers.
In any case al-Qaeda's recent attacks are part of a dangerous patterns which underscore the need for a coordinated regional anti-terror efforts.
Yemen, the poorest and most unstable nations in the Arabian Peninsula simply cannot face the threat of Islamic extremism on its own, especially since terror militants have proven to be more resilient than first anticipated.