Two people, including a police officer, were killed and four others injured during a firefight between Yemeni police and suspected al-Qaeda members believed to have been involved in an attack on a French supertanker off the Yemeni coast, hospital sources said Friday.
"Two people, including a police officer, were killed, and four others, two of them policemen, were injured" in the fire exchange with gunmen hiding in a house in a district west of al-Mukalla in Hadramut province, some 850 kilometers southeast of the capital Sanaa, they told AFP.
According to witnesses, the gunmen, suspected of belonging to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network and being involved in October's supertanker blast, managed to escape. In addition, they said the militants in the house threw a grenade at police officials.
Those believed to have fled include Shaker Hamel, who is suspected to have coordinated and funded several terrorist attacks in the Republic of Yemen.
Meanwhile, September 26 newspaper reported on Thursday that French investigators had returned to Yemen to review progress in the investigation and the conclusions reached by security services. (Albawaba.com)
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