A senior security official and five of his bodyguards were killed as their vehicle ran over a land mine in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Tuesday.

"Unknown militants apparently planted a land mine that struck a vehicle carrying a senior security official along with his five bodyguards in Hadramout province," the local government source said on condition of anonymity.

The roadside bomb blast resulted in the assassination of Saleh Bin Ali Jaber, the security director of Shibam district located in the west side of Hadramout, he said.

The director of Shibam's district was leading a security campaign to track down suspected terror elements in the area before the incident, the source added.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb blast.

But militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch are active in the region and often use roadside bombs to target government officials as well as Yemeni security forces.

The Yemeni government-controlled provinces, including Hadramout, are witnessing growing activities of extremist organizations that take advantage of the ongoing conflict in the impoverished Arab country.