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The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for assassinating the governor of Yemen's Aden province and six of his bodyguards in a bomb attack in the country' s temporary capital on Sunday, the militant group said in a statement posted on social media.
The IS also threatened to launch more attacks against the Yemeni government in a brief statement posted on Twitter.
"Major General Jafar Mohammed Saad, the newly appointed governor of Aden, was killed in a bomb attack targeted his motorcade while he was passing through the Tawahi district in Aden heading toward his workplace at around 8:30 a.m. (local time) Sunday," a local military official said on condition of anonymity.
Six of his bodyguards were also killed by the explosion in the Tawahi district, where the governor's residential building is located, the military source said.
The attack was the second in recent months that was launched against high-level officials of the exiled Yemeni government.
In October, a hotel in Aden where Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and his cabinet were living was attacked by a bomb attack inspired by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Bahah and his cabinet members escaped the attack unharmed.
An intelligence officer told Xinhua that that initial reports indicate that Sunday's explosion was caused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to his car.
However, a security official said a booby-trapped car struck the governor's motorcade in the Tawahi district, where scores of the Islamic State gunmen are operating.
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has formed a military committee to investigate the assassination of Aden's governor, saying that he would personally oversees the investigation process, a source close to the presidency told Xinhua.
The fresh attach came one day after drive-by shootings killed the chief of a anti-terrorism court and military intelligence officers in Aden city.
Jafar Mohammad Saad, Hadi's military advisor before he was appointed as governor on Oct. 9, was working to secure Aden in cooperation with the Saudi-led coalition forces.
On Saturday, the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State released a series of videos showing executing several people who they said supported the Shiite Houthi group.
Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the Islamic State.
Security situation in the country has deteriorated since March when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and air strikes since then, and half of them were civilians.
The UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed met Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden city on Saturday to discuss arrangements for peace talks between the government and Houthi forces, a source close to Yemen's president said.
The UN-led dialogue, which is expected to be held in Geneva, has been postponed to mid-December, as the warring parties cannot reach a consensus on a cease-fire.
