Official: al-Qaida executes Yemeni anti-terror officer

SANAA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- A captured senior Yemeni anti-terrorist officer has confirmed to be "executed" by an al-Qaida group, and a short video showing his killing was posted on the Internet, according to an official of Yemen's Interior Ministry.

Bassam Tarbush, 41, a major at the Combating Terrorism Unit in Marib province northeast the capital Sanaa was kidnapped by al-Qaida in June 2009, said the official on condition of anonymity.

"The video is also transferred from mobile phone to mobile phone using Bluetooth in Marib, Al-Jawf, Hadramout, Abyan and Aden provinces," the official told Xinhua.

Al-Qaida said in the video that Major Tarbush was allegedly behind the assassination of top al-Qaida leader Ali Qaed Sunian al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali, who was killed in Marib province by a U.S. Predator drone in 2002.

"The spy Tarbush was one of Yemen's anti-terror security officers who collaborated with the American intelligence services to arrest and assassinate al-Qaida leaders in Yemen," the video added.