Security Officer at US Embassy in Yemen Assassinated

A US Embassy security official, identified as Qassem Aqlani, was assassinated on his way to work by a gunman on motorcycle on Thursday. According to AP: Yemeni officials said the killing bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaida attack, but it was too early to determine if the group was behind it. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack occurred in near the home of Aglani, in the capital city of Sanaa, and are believed to be in retaliation for recent military action by US-backed Yemeni government offensives against the terrorist group. Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington considers the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network, has called for attacks on U.S. embassies in a bid to exploit the anti-American sentiment that has swept the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world in the past month over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.

Officials have asserted that the attack on the Consulate in Benghazi was not linked to the film, but AQAP has praised the attack in Libya and killing of U.S. diplomats. Two weeks ago, a top intelligence official, Col. Abdullah al-Ashwal, was also killed in a drive-by shooting in Sanaa.