A senior Yemeni security officer was seriously injured in an al-Qaida ambush on Thursday in the northeast troubled province of Marib, home of Yemen's major location of oil facilities, a local police official said.
Colonel Mohammed Faree, deputy director of the criminal investigation unit in Marib, was badly wounded when al-Qaida gunmen opened a hail of bullets on his vehicle late Thursday, the police official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Colonel Faree was taken to the hospital and security forces were searching in the area to arrest or kill the militants, the official said.
Yemen has witnessed a growing active role of the al-Qaida regional wing in the Arabian Peninsula in south and east of the country since the beginning of this year.
Neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and the U.S. paid more attention to Yemen's security affairs after the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing claimed that it was behind a failed attempt to destroy a U.S. passenger plane bound for Detroit in December last year.