ADEN: Two airstrikes that targeted two vehicles in south Yemen yesterday killed seven suspected members of Al-Qaeda and wounded two more, a local official said.

The deaths came on the same day suspected members of the extremist group shot dead a senior air force officer.

Yesterday's attacks by the Yemeni air force hit the two vehicles on the outskirts of the town of Mahfad in Abyan province, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said Al-Qaeda-linked militants were seen evacuating the casualties and transferring them to a local medical centre. Unidentified assailants yesterday shot dead a senior air force officer in the eastern province of Hadramawt, another area of operations for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.