HADRAMOUT —  Colonel Ahmed Al-Harmili, head of Rawkab Police Station in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout governorate, was assassinated at 8:30am on Sunday in front of the city’s police station compound. Thus far, investigations have not yet revealed who carried out the assassination. However, the technique used indicates Al-Qaeda involvement.

Ali Ahmed Al-Mahwari, Al-Mukalla’s mayor, told the Yemen Times that while Al-Harmili was standing by the police station gate, an explosive device went off. He said that the device was home made, and indicators showed that the device was remote-operated. He affirmed that terrorists were behind the blast.

The security chief of Mukalla, Omar Bashmos, confirmed that no other deaths or injuries were reported.

Ahmed Al-Zurkah, a political analyst, pointed out that Al-Qaeda has begun to change its fighting strategy, with intensified assassinations and ambushes targeting embassies and oil establishments.

He went on to say that there will be more assassination attempts on military and security figures like Al-Harmili, and Naji Hatroom, the political security chief of Marib who underwent a failed assassination attempt on Friday.

He added that some media outlets try to display Al-Qaeda as undefeated and capable of expanding its attacks to destabilize the nation.  

“Al-Qaeda’s withdrawal [from Abyan] was only to stop the killing of its members. It was just a tactic used to avoid intense shelling that the army launched on Al-Qaeda’s members there,” concluded Al-Zurkah.