Gunmen assassinate senior Houthi official in Yemen

A senior Shiite Houthi official was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike in Yemen's capital of Sanaa Wednesday, a security official said.

Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani, who was in charge of media affairs in the Houthi group, was murdered near his house in Hail neighborhood by two gunmen on a motorbike, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The gunmen fled the scene before Houthi militia, who control the capital, cordoned off the area and started searching for the murderers.

Al-Khaiwani was a leading representative of the Shiite Houthi group at Yemen's national dialogue conference, which ended January 2014 after over 10 months of consultations to reach a reconciliation once mass protests forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

This is the third assassination against Houthi officials in less than a year.

On the same day, six Houthi fighters were killed in an ambush while they were on patrol in the central province of al-Bayda by al-Qaida militants, local tribal sources told Xinhua by phone.

Security has deteriorated in Yemen since January when the Shiite Houthi group seized the presidential palace in Sanaa following deadly clashes with presidential guards, culminating in the resignations of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah. Hadi and Bahah were subsequently placed under house arrest.

In late February, Hadi fled to the southern port city of Aden, where he withdrew his resignation and resumed his presidential duties.

Bahah was released this week following efforts exerted by UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar and weeks-long national campaigns by political parties and non-governmental organizations.

On Feb. 6, the Houthi group disclosed a unilateral "constitutional declaration," dissolving parliament and establishing a presidential council replacing Hadi and his government.

The unilateral move was rejected by Yemen's political parties and denounced by the Gulf Arab states.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have moved their embassies to Aden after more than a dozen countries closed their missions in Sanaa in February in protest against the Houthi takeover.

The Shiite Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah, is based in the far northern province of Saada. It extended its influence southward after signing a UN-sponsored peace and power-sharing deal on Sept. 21, 2014 following week-long deadly clashes.

Discontented from marginalization for years, it battled the government between 2004 and 2010. Endit