Sanaa, March 18 (IANS): A senior Shia Houthi official was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday, a security official said.
Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani, who was in charge of media affairs in the Houthi group, was murdered near his house in Hail neighbourhood by two gunmen on a motorbike, the official told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.
The gunmen fled from the scene before Houthi militia, who control the capital, cordoned off the area and started searching for the murderers.
Al-Khaiwani was a leading representative of the Shia Houthi group at Yemen's national dialogue conference, which ended in January 2014 after over 10 months of consultations to reach a reconciliation once mass protests forced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
This is the third assassination of Houthi officials in less than a year.
On the same day, six Houthi fighters were killed in an ambush while they were on patrol in the central province of al-Bayda by Al Qaeda militants, tribal sources told Xinhua by phone.
Security has deteriorated in Yemen since January when the Shia Houthi group seized the presidential palace in Sanaa following deadly clashes with presidential guards, culminating in the resignations of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah. Hadi and Bahah were subsequently placed under house arrest.
In late February, Hadi fled to the southern port city of Aden, where he withdrew his resignation and resumed his presidential duties.
Bahah was released this week following efforts exerted by UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, after weeks-long national campaigns by political parties and non-governmental organizations.
On February 6, the Houthi group disclosed a unilateral "constitutional declaration”, dissolving parliament and establishing a presidential council replacing Hadi and his government.
The unilateral move was rejected by Yemen's political parties and denounced by the Gulf Arab states.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have moved their embassies to Aden after more than a dozen countries closed their missions in Sanaa in February in protest against the Houthi takeover.
The Shia Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah, is based in the far northern province of Saada. It extended its influence southward after signing a UN-sponsored peace and power-sharing deal on September 21, 2014, following weeks-long deadly clashes.
Discontented over marginalisation for years, it battled the government between 2004 and 2010.