Tribesmen kill 4 Yemen troops in new assault

Smoke billows from a Yemeni military truck set on fire during the attack by gunmen on a military post in Shahr yesterday.

Armed tribesmen attacked an army post in southeast Yemen yesterday and killed four soldiers in the latest assault targeting security forces in the area since December, a military official said. The attack took place near Shahr in Hadramout province, which has been hit by protests against the central government since last month, after the army killed tribal chief Said Ben Habrish and his bodyguards at a checkpoint. Gunmen and troops traded fire after the attack, witnesses said, adding that army reinforcements had arrived in the area.  The military official said a regional tribal alliance was behind the attack.   In addition to attacks on the army, the recently formed alliance of tribes in Hadramout has sabotaged pipelines in the region at least two times in recent weeks. On Saturday, members of the alliance killed two soldiers and wounded another in an attack on oil installations operated by Norwegian DNO in Hadramout, a security official had said.