Gunmen kill two officials in Yemen

Unidentified gunmen shot dead two officials in Yemen's southern province of Lahj Friday, a security official said.

"An official of the General People Congress party and another official of Lahj local government were gunned down by masked attackers riding a motorbike when they were traveling toward the neighbouring southern province of Aden," a local security official told Xinhua.

Yemeni military officials blamed militants of the Yemen-based Al Qaida offshoot for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the country's southern parts.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, which emerged in January 2009, is considered one of the greatest threats to the Yemeni government and neighbouring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.