World Bulletin/News Desk

A senior Yemeni army officer was gunned down in the southern province of Abyan on Tuesday by militants who are believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, locals said.

They added that the officer was a colonel whose car was targeted in Abyan's Lawdar District.

There has not been any claim of responsibility for the assassination of the officer yet. The authorities have not commented on the incident either.

Called Abdullah al-Maaraji, the slain officer was the commander of the Yemeni army's infantry brigade that fought against Al-Qaeda in Lawdar District in 2012. The battle brought Yemeni army control back to the district.

Yemen has started hitting hard at Al-Qaeda in its southern provinces since late April. Battles between the army and Al-Qaeda in the southern provinces of Shabwah and Abyan left 500 Al-Qaeda militants and 40 Yemeni troops dead, the spokesman of the Yemeni army said in early May.

Security remains to be a major challenge in Yemen, which has descended into chaos since a popular uprising in 2011 and regime change in 2012.