A high-ranking intelligence officer has been shot dead late on Saturday by unidentified gunmen in the southeastern province of Al-Baytha, some 170km southeast the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.

Aytha Fraj Baganem, a colonel at the Political Intelligence Security, was killed at 5 a.m by unidentified gunmen and for yet unknown motives, eyewitnesses told Yemen Post.

While on his way to work, Baganem was being shot dead by two gunmen downtown al-Baytha city, said the eyewitnesses, adding that "after killing Baganem, the attackers managed to escape in a black car, which was apparently waiting for them at the main street's corner ".

Security headquarters pointed the finger of blame at al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, which is, according to USA State Department, the most active cell of the terror network in the world.

It's noteworthy that Al-Qaeda has briefly taken control of Rada, the main town in the province, in January and it has evacuated it based on a successful tribal mediation.

In November, Ahmed Nasser al-Jari, the chief of Political Intelligence Security in al-Baytha, was killed by unknown assailants. And on last Thursday the intelligence chief of Lahj Province have been killed in passerby shooting.

Murdering high-ranking intelligence officers has worryingly increased as of late, particularly in the southern provinces of the fragmented-state.

Saudi Arabia and USA have repeatedly voiced their gravest concerns over al-Qaeda free activities in the trouble-torn Gulf state. USA has stepped up its drone raids on the terrorists' hideouts to compensate for the disrupted cooperation on terrorism with Yemen.

Yemen, a country on the southern rim of Arabian Peninsula, is currently suffering from multiple crises, topped by the political turmoil.