Judge killed by al-Qaida suspects in Yemen's Aden

Unknown gunmen suspected of belonging to the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch shot and killed a prominent judge in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Tuesday, a security official told Xinhua.

The security official said that unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from assault rifles and assassinated Judge Jalal Abdullah in Aden's neighborhood of Mansoura in Aden province.

"The prominent judge received several bullets in different parts of his body and died at the scene near Banda Supermarket in Mansoura neighborhood, " the security source said on condition of anonymity, adding that the masked gunmen manged to flee to unknown whereabouts.

The attack is the second of its kind in a month. Unknown gunmen assassinated the chief of the Aden-based anti-terrorism court along with four of his bodyguards in Aden's Mansoura neighborhood on early this month.

The anti-terror judge, Mohsin Alwani, was known for sentencing a number of al-Qaida members to prison in the country's troubled south, according to local sources.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the Islamic State.

Security situation in the country has deteriorated since March when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and air strikes since then, half of them civilians. Endit