Yemeni senior officer assassinated in Aden

ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A senior officer of the UAE-backed Yemeni security forces was assassinated on Wednesday by gunmen in the country's southern port city of Aden, a local government official told Xinhua.

"Unidentified assailants gunned down a senior officer of the newly-recruited security forces in Aden while he was on duty in the district of DarSaad," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The assassinated security officer, identified as Qassim alHariri, was a member of the anti-terror troops backed by the United Arab Emirates, the source added.

Witnesses said the assailants managed to escape on their motorcycles.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Aden is considered as the temporary capital of Yemen. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government has been there since 2015.

Over the past two years, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other terrorist groups including the Islamic State were active in southern Yemen.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily in 2014, seizing all northern provinces including the capital Sanaa.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Yemen is facing severe humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis being on the brink of famine and 2,000 people killed by cholera. Enditem