Unidentified gunmen shot dead a military adviser to Yemen’s defence ministry, an Iraqi national, in central Sanaa on Tuesday, a security official said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the victim, Khaled Hatem al-Hashemi was killed when “two gunmen on a motorbike” fired “two bullets” into his head as they drove past him. The official said the assailants managed to escape. It is believed that many Iraqi military officers who served under Saddam Hussein fled to Yemen after the fall of his regime and took jobs as military and defence advisers to the Yemeni government. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the killing but Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a spate of attacks on Yemeni security officials, both in the capital and throughout the country. Yemen’s unity government, created to lead a political transition after the ousting of veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh in February, is struggling to maintain control in an increasingly divided country plagued by lawlessness and militancy.
