Gunmen kill senior Yemen intelligence officer

SANAA (Reuters) - Motorcycle gunmen shot dead a senior Yemeni intelligence officer on Thursday outside his home in a southern province where armed secessionists and al Qaeda militants are active, police sources said.

The officer, who had been relaxing outside after lunch, was the second security officer gunned down in the southern Abyan province in less than a month.

"Two men on a motorcycle opened fire on Colonel Saleh Amtheib as he sat near his house in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan," one of the sources said.

"Police are searching for those involved."

The officer had worked on al Qaeda and secessionist issues, the sources said. Police were combing the area for suspects but had no immediate word on a motive.

Yemen, neighbor to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since a Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Yemen has stepped up security measures after accusing al Qaeda's wing in the Arabian Peninsula country of an attack on June 19 in which militants raided the police intelligence building in the southern city of Aden, killing 11 people.

Yemen also is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and cement a ceasefire with Shi'ite rebels in the north.

It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the impoverished country.

(Reporting by Mohamed Ghobari; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Michael Roddy)