Suspected militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch opened fire and killed a senior security official in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, a government official said.

The local source said on condition of anonymity that "two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from assault rifles and killed a security official named Nasr Salhi in Abyan's district of Mudiyah."

He said that the gunmen rained Salhi's vehicle with a barrage of bullets, leaving him dead in Mudiyah, located in the southeastern part of Abyan.

"Salhi was working as a commander of the newly-recruited security forces in Mudiyah district before his assassination," the source said.

He indicated that the gunmen were believed to be belonging to the al-Qaida group, and that they had managed to escape after the incident.

A statement of the newly-recruited southern security forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) confirmed that Salhi was killed in an ambush set up by al-Qaida militants.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) network, which mostly operates in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country.