ISIS claims killing of security commander in Yemen

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the killing of a paramilitary security officer in Aden on Saturday.

Captain Mohammed Saleh Al Radfani, 30, a security commander from the Security Belt Forces, the elite wing of the Southern Transitional Council, was killed in Aden on Saturday afternoon.

A security source told The National that gun-men wearing masks shot at Al Radfani while he was in his car near his home in the Army Buildings neighbourhood in Al Mansoura district. He had been about to drive his sister back to her home at the time.

ISIS circulated pictures of the assassination operation on Twitter, claiming responsibility for the assassination.

It followed a series of similar terror actions targeting security officers and military commanders in the port city in recent weeks.

On Friday evening, Colonel Musfer Al Harithi, a commander in Yemen's Ministry of Defence, survived an attempt on his life by unknown gun-men riding motorcycles when they shot over his car while he was driving home. On Sunday, gunmen also targeted the director of the criminal detection unit, Major Salah Hojairi, who also survived.

Attacks on officials have increasingly ramped up in the port city of Aden since the return of the Yemen government to the city, which is recognised as a seat for the internationally recognised government.

The STC have been fighting ISIS Al Qaeda in Southern Yemen since 2016 and the militant groups now consider them their main enemy in Yemen.