Unknown gunmen opened fire and killed a well-known Yemeni academician in the country's southern province of Dhalea on Saturday, a security official said.

"Two masked gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from their rifles and assassinated Khaled Humaidi, dean of the Education College in the city," according to the local security source who asked to remain anonymous.

The assailants escaped after conducting the drive-by shooting attack, said the source.

Hours following the assassination incident, a group of other masked gunmen were deployed through the city's turbulent neighborhoods and forced commercial stores to shut down.

Witnesses near the scene told Xinhua that "the masked gunmen prevented dozens of local residents from staging a small protest condemning the spike of assassination incidents in their city."

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the drive-by shooting attack, but local security officials usually blame militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch for being behind such incidents.