High-ranking Yemeni official injured in ambush

A senior Yemeni government official was seriously wounded in an ambush that killed three of his colleagues in the south of the country on Wednesday, security sources have said.

The attack carried out by unidentified gunmen took place in Amsara district.

"Gunmen ambushed Ahmed Salim al-Osaili, deputy governor of Yemen's al-Baydaa province, seriously injuring him and killing three of his companions," the anonymous sources told Anadolu news agency.

"Osaili was shot while en route to the coastal city of Aden - the Yemeni government's interim capital - where he was scheduled to meet with members of the al-Baydaa Resistance Council," the source added.

The al-Baydaa Resistance Council - of which al-Osaili is a founding member - is made up of officials loyal to Yemen's embattled President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Earlier in the day, al-Qaeda militants in the same area killed a commander of the pro-government "Popular Committees" in an ambush, another anonymous source told Anadolu.

Since Yemen descended into war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the UN-recognised government in 2014, al-Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups have managed to maintain their foothold in the country.

The war intensified in March 2015, when a Saudi-led Arab military coalition intervened in support of Hadi's embattled government.

Despite a brutal campaign of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas, a stalemate between the two sides has prevailed, bringing Yemen to the brink of collapse as the war continues.

According to the UN, over 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen's ongoing war.