Yemen: Officer investigating assassination of WFP chief killed in Taiz

Gunmen in Yemen have assassinated an officer tasked with investigating the killing of a World Food Porgramme (WPF) director in the southern city of Taiz, local media reported on Tuesday.

Adnan Al-Mohya, a political security officer in the Yemeni city, was killed days after he was appointed as a member of the investigative committee probing the death of Moayad Hameidi, the Yemeni news outlet Al-Masdar Online reported.

The news website said that Al-Mohya was killed by gunmen in the Al-Jahmaliya neighbourhood of Taiz.

A security source told The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen is possibly behind Al-Mohya’s assassination, while another told Al-Masdar that the assailants have been identified and are being pursued by security forces seeking to arrest them.

 WFP chief Hameidi, a Jordanian national, was killed by militants in Turbah, south of Taiz on 21 July.

At the end of last month, security services in the southern city said they arrested the perpetrators accused of killing the UN official, along with 20 others accused of being involved in the crime, following a four-day long intensive search.

Hameidi had recently arrived in Yemen to carry out professional duties as the director of the World Food Programme’s office in Taiz, according to an official UN statement.

"Hameidi was a dedicated employee who worked for the organization for more than 18 years, including a previous period in Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and Iraq," the statement said.

Yemen has been entangled in a civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of much of the north and seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government into exile.

Taiz has also been the scene for numerous clashes between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the government

The city has also been under a years-long Houthi blockade, exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in the country, which is the Middle East’s poorest nation.