Yemeni separatists shot dead a police officer in south Yemen as he drove on his motorcycle, bringing to four the number of people killed in attacks on security men in the south in a week, state media said Friday. The killing comes after the arrest of at least 80 people this week in security sweeps against separatists in south Yemen, as the government reacted to a week of unrest in which army positions came under fire and northern-owned shops were burned. Witnesses said they heard heavy gunfire Thursday from gunmen thought to belong to a separatist militia, and later saw the 45-year-old officer slumped over his motorcycle in Zanjibar in Abyan province, the defence ministry's online newspaper said. It added that the officer had previously received threats from members of the militia, led by a separatist leader formerly loyal to the government, but gave no further details. Yemen, in addition to its conflict with separatists, is also facing a northern insurgency and a resurgent Al-Qaeda, whose Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for a failed December bomb attack on a US
