A senior Yemeni security official survived an assassination attempt on Wednesday after gunmen attacked his motorcade in the southern province of Abyan, an official from the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. Major General Nasser Mansour Hadi, brother of the vice president and head of Yemen’s Political Security Agency (PSA), survived the attack that left two members of his security escort wounded, one seriously.
“[Hadi] survived a treacherous assassination attempt on the part of subversive elements outside the constitution, system and law belonging to Tarek al-Fadhli,” the official said in a statement. “The perpetrators will not escape punishment and security agencies are now hunting them so they face justice.”
The attack came amid widespread protests across Yemen’s southern provinces led by the opposition Southern Movement, of which Tarek al-Fadhli is a leader. The Southern Movement was established in 2007 after retired military members demanded higher pensions, complained of government corruption and discrimination, and accused the government of seizing private land.
They have since violently called for the reestablishment of a south Yemeni state that unified with North Yemen in 1990.
Two people have since been arrested in connection with the assassination attempt.
© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
