ADEN, Yemen July 3 (Xinhua) -- A police station commander from the pro-government security forces was killed along with his bodyguard in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Tuesday, a government official told Xinhua.

Masked gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from silenced rifles and assassinated Colonel Wadah Jahori along with his bodyguard in Aden's area of Takneeh, the local government official said on condition of anonymity.

Colonel Jahori worked as commander of AlShaab Police Station in Aden and launched several anti-terror operations last year, said the government source.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital and was certified dead? the source added.

The southern port city of Aden is considered as Yemen's temporary capital, where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has based since 2015.

During the past two years, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other terrorist groups including the Islamic State had an active presence in Yemen's southern part.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Iran-backed Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera, causing more than 2,000 deaths.