ADEN
Suspected militants killed 20 members of Yemen’s security forces in a dawn raid on a checkpoint on Monday, state news agency Saba said, in an attack officials said bore the hallmarks of the local branch of al Qaeda.
Yemen is dogged by internal conflicts and chronic poverty and Monday’s attack highlighted the lack of stability in the Western-allied country, which shares a border with top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia and lies next to major shipping lanes.
The Yemeni interior minister suspended senior security officials in the eastern province of Hadramout where the attack took place and ordered an immediate investigation, Saba said.
A local official said the troops, who belonged to a paramilitary unit under the Interior Ministry, were mostly asleep when the raiders attacked the checkpoint, located some 120 kms (75 miles) east of the provincial capital al-Mukalla.
“A terrorist attack, involving four armed vehicles, surprised a security checkpoint … resulting in 20 members of the special security forces being martyred,” Saba quoted a security source as saying.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, in which Saba said one person was also wounded. A security source in the capital Sanaa said two members of the security forces had been seized and taken away by the militants.