SANAA - The Yemeni defense ministry said staff officer of the police in the southern province of al-Bayda was killed in an ambush on Sunday.

Staff officer Abdullah Dhaifallah Mohammed was killed by gunmen in an ambush on Madween-Aldhahaki highway, it said in a statement on its website.

An investigation has been launched into the attack as police forces are chasing perpetrators to bring them to justice, it said without elaborating further.

Meanwhile, a provincial police officer told Xinhua by phone that the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was behind the assault, citing testimonies from eyewitnesses.

Violent attacks and high-profile assassinations are common in Yemen, where a popular uprising in 2011 weakened the control of the interim government. The Yemeni government blamed most of assassinations on the al-Qaida group that has been considered the most dangerous regional branch in the Middle East.