Yemen TV: 21 al Qaeda gunmen killed

An armed, anti-government Yemeni man patrols a street in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday.NEW: Protesters are calling for the creation of an interim transitional council21 al Qaeda members and 10 soldiers have been killed, state TV saysFighting raged in two in Abyan province townsA source says Yemen's government is conducting air raids

(CNN) -- Deadly fighting between Yemeni government forces and al Qaeda erupted in a restive southern province on Saturday.

Demonstrators took to the streets and demanded the creation of an interim body that would guide and shape the country's political transition.

Twenty-one al Qaeda members and 10 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in Yemen's Abyan province, where fighting has raged Saturday, Yemen's state-run news agency reported.

Clashes between security forces and suspected militants have erupted in Lawdar and Zinjibar, towns in Abyan -- a militant stronghold with a presence of Yemen's al Qaeda wing, SABA reported, citing a military official.

Eighteen al Qaeda members and nine soldiers were killed in Zinjibar and three militants and one soldier were killed in Lowdar, the report said. Dozens of people were injured.

"The heroes of the armed and security forces in Abyan province caused the terrorist elements of al Qaeda heavy losses in lives and material after fierce confrontations with those elements that began in the early hours of the morning and lasted several hours and ended with the killing of a number of them and injuring many others," SABA reported.

A Yemeni security official, who has asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told CNN that Yemen's government conducted air raids on positions in Lawdar believed to be held by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Government forces have been fighting Islamic militants who seized the town of Zinjibar. Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard through the city, and planes were seen flying overhead and conducting airstrikes, witnesses and residents said.

The military official cited by SABA said Yemeni military forces targeted a warehouse used by militants to store weapons and cars used by the fighters. The official said troops are working to track down al Qaeda fighters and "cleanse the pockets and hiding places where terrorists are present."

Yemen has been consumed with unrest for months as protesters demand an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In recent weeks, government troops have battled both anti-government tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

A six-nation Gulf Arab alliance, the Gulf Cooperation Council, has tried to broker a government-opposition agreement that would lead to Saleh's departure, but that effort has so far been unsuccessful.

The demonstrations continued on Saturday as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in Sanaa, Taiz, Ibb and Hodeidah, eyewitnesses said.

Witnesses said the demonstrators on Saturday called for the vice president to create an interim transitional council to help fashion a political transition.

They accused the United States and the GCC of supporting the Saleh regime, and demanded support of the youth revolution.

Anti-government forces also criticized opposition political parties and politicians for supporting the GCC deal, which would lead to Saleh's departure but give him immunity.

Khaled Al-Anesi, a prominent rights activist in Sanaa, said the United States and the international community should support the Yemen revolution "as it did in Tunisia and Egypt if it wants Yemen to continue to be its ally in the future."

The chaos there intensified when Saleh and other senior officials were injured in a June 3 attack on the mosque at the presidential palace.

Saleh and other senior officials injured in the attack went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. A government spokesman said Thursday Saleh was in good health and would be returning to Yemen "within days."

CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

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Gunmen kill senior Iraqi director

The executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission is shot to deathThe commission purges the government of members of the now-outlawed Baath PartyViolence elsewhere in Iraq kills two soldiers and an interior ministry official

Baghdad (CNN) -- Ali Faisal al-Lami, the executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission, was shot dead by gunmen Thursday evening, said interior ministry officials.

Al-Lami was riding in a car in eastern Baghdad on the canal highway at the time of the incident, officials said.

His driver escaped the attack unharmed, officials said.

Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission is charged with purging the government of mid- and senior-level members of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath Party.

Separately, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 12 people were wounded when a roadside bomb explosion struck an Iraqi army patrol in the western outskirts of Baghdad on Thursday, interior ministry officials said.

In al-Ghadeer neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, gunmen shot dead Lt. Col. Khalid Mohammed, an official with Iraqi's interior ministry, while he was in a car, officials said.

In al-Sadoon street in central Baghdad, two police officer were wounded when gunmen attacked an Iraqi police patrol with small-arms fire Thursday, authorities said.

Also, two mortar rounds struck the fortified Green, or International, Zone in Baghdad, but there were no reports of casualties, officials said. The zone is home to the Iraqi government and U.S. and British embassies.

In another incident, four mortar rounds landed on Baghdad international airport but there were no report of injuries, officials said.

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Gunmen kill Saudi diplomat in Pakistan's Karachi (Reuters)

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a Saudi diplomat in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, police and the Saudi ambassador said, the second attack on the mission since the killing of Osama bin Laden increased tension in the region.

Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility, and warned the United States against attacking its close ally al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda has waged a bloody campaign to topple the royal family and government of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of its leader bin Laden. The group has also vowed to avenge his killing by U.S. special forces in a Pakistani military town on May 2.

Four people riding motorcycles opened fire on the Saudi diplomat's car, a Karachi police official said. The diplomat, a low ranking security official, was on his way to the consulate when the assailants struck.

Pakistan's interior minister condemned the attack and ordered Karachi authorities to provide "complete security" to Saudi nationals stationed in the city, where analyst say militants generate funds through extortion and robberies.

"We condemn this attack. No one who carries out this kind of attack can be a Muslim," the Saudi ambassador, Abdul Aziz al-Ghadeer, told Reuters. Four bullets were fired and one struck the diplomat in the head, said senior Karachi police official Iqbal Mehmood.

The Saudi state news agency named the diplomat as Hassan al-Qahtani and described his killing as a "criminal attack." It said Saudi officials would investigate the shooting alongside the Pakistani authorities.

The shooting, which a Saudi embassy official said occurred about 60 meters (200 feet) from the consulate, came days after unidentified attackers threw two hand grenades at the consulate in Pakistan's commercial hub. No one was hurt in that attack.

Saudi Arabia, one of the United States' most strategic allies, is the world biggest oil exporter and any signs that its security is threatened could move global oil prices.

A Saudi Interior Ministry official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters in Dubai that security would be stepped up to protect Saudi diplomats living in "dangerous" areas.

FUNDING EXTREMISM?

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long been close allies and Islamabad needs all the support it can get after the discovery of bin Laden embarrassed the South Asian country.

"We trust the Pakistani authorities and hope they will identify the terrorists and bring them to justice," ambassador al-Ghadeer said.

Before claiming responsibility for the shooting, Pakistan's Taliban had described Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as American "slaves" and hailed the attack as a "very good job."

Saudi Arabia has its own internal security to worry about, not just the safety of diplomats who may be targeted.

Militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda attacked Western targets, government sites and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, between 2003 and 2006.

The operations included suicide bombings at Western housing compounds, the Saudi Interior Ministry headquarters in the capital Riyadh and petrochemicals companies.

Saudi Arabia responded with a largely successful security crackdown in 2007 and 2010, arresting more than 170 suspects, including some trainee pilots preparing for suicide attacks.

Analysts, however, suggested Saudi policy in Pakistan backfired.

Saudi Arabia, which is home to the fundamentalist Wahhabi brand of Islam, is seen as funding some of Pakistan's hardline religious seminaries which churn out young men eager for holy war, posing a long-term threat to the stability of the region.

"The Saudis have led a pretty successful campaign to root out al Qaeda and its extremists in Saudi Arabia over the last decade or so," said Salman Shaikh, director of Brookings Doha Center, a policy research institute.

"I have to say that Saudi Arabia has had a mixed history in Pakistan as well. Many have accused it or certainly elements of its religious establishment of financing extremist education (in Pakistan) over the years."

(Additional reporting by Imtiaz Shah in Karachi, Kamran Haider, Chris Allbritton and Robert Birsel in Islamabad, Amena Bakr and Cynthia Johnston in Dubai and Yaw Yan Chong in SINGAPORE; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

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Iraq officials: Relatives killed by gunmen

NEW: Four rockets hit Baghdad, wounding 13 peopleNEW: Bomb injures three near the National TheaterInterior ministry: Gunmen wearing police uniforms kill family members in Baghdad Officials say similar incidents have occurred in the past few months

Baghdad (CNN) -- Three Shiite family members, including a woman, were fatally shot by gunmen wearing police uniforms in southwestern Baghdad on Sunday morning, Iraq's interior ministry said.

The gunmen stormed a house in the al-Thuraa neighborhood and then fled after the killings, ministry officials said. Iraqi security forces are investigating.

In the past few months, gunmen have stormed houses across the country in similar incidents and fatally shot family members.

Interior ministry officials have attributed these killings to either the sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites or tribal retaliations.

Overall, violence in Iraq has dropped drastically since the peak of sectarian violence between 2005 and 2007, but mortar attacks, bombs and assassinations are still common.

In other violence Sunday, four Katyusha rockets hit different areas of Baghdad, including one in the heavily fortified Green Zone where Iraqi government and diplomatic buildings are located, according to information ministry officials.

A total of 13 people were wounded in the rocket attacks, though ministry officials had no immediate information on any possible casualties from the rocket that landed in the Green Zone.

Separately, a roadside bomb exploded outside Iraq's National Theatre in central Baghdad, wounding three people, and a mortar round damaged a house in central Baghdad but caused no casualties, the information ministry officials said.

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Taliban gunmen attack Afghan government offices

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban gunmen unleashed a major assault Saturday on government buildings in Afghanistan's largest southern city — a former Taliban stronghold where international and Afghan forces are trying to establish security and a functioning government.

A NATO vehicle crosses an empty street after gunmen attacked the compound of Kandahar's governor Saturday in Afghanistan.

Shooting started shortly after midday and the gunfire was still ringing through Kandahar city hours later. Government and hospital officials confirmed that the governor's compound, the mayor's office and the intelligence agency offices had all been attacked.

The Taliban said a large number of their militants flooded into Kandahar city with these three sites as their targets. There were also reports of gunfire elsewhere in the city, but these could not be immediately confirmed.

"The Taliban attacked a number of different locations," government spokesman Zalmai Ayubi told the Associated Press, speaking from a safe room inside the governor's compound. He said he could confirm for certain only that the governor's compound and the mayor's office were under assault.

At least 12 people had been wounded, according to officials at the city's main hospital. Dr. Irsan — who gave only one name — confirmed that some of the wounded had been caught up in the firefight at the intelligence agency. He said others had been shot in the crossfire around the governor's compound.

There were no immediate reports of deaths from the government, though the Taliban said that their militants had managed to enter at least the governor's compound and claimed that there were deaths.

"A lot of people have been killed," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.

An AP reporter near the governor's compound said the shooting there was focused at the back of the compound, near the governor's residence. At least two larger blasts were also be heard.

Shopkeepers throughout the city closed down their stores and the streets emptied of people and cars as Kandahar residents bunkered down inside to wait out the fight. Police blocked journalists from getting near the buildings under assault. Military helicopters hovered overhead.

Saturday's attack was the latest in a series of strikes by the Taliban insurgency at a high-profile government installation. Last month, the militant group launched deadly attacks inside the Defense Ministry, at a joint U.S.-Afghan base and at the Kandahar police headquarters. The group also sprung more than 480 inmates from the Kandahar city prison in a stunning jailbreak through a tunnel that had been dug over months.

The attack also came a day after the Taliban issued a statement saying that Osama bin Laden's death would boost the morale of the insurgency and threatening that they would show their strength.

"The martyrdom of Sheik Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current jihad against the invaders," the group said in Friday's statement. "The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes."

But Ahmadi said this was not a revenge attack for bin Laden's death but a plot that had been in the works for months.

"This operation has been planned for a long time, for the past month or two," Ahmadi said.

The Taliban said last week, before the strike on bin Laden, that more large attacks were planned as part of their spring offensive.

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