Wissam Qaid, Acting Executive Director of Yemen’s Social Fund for Development in the Saudi-backed government was found dead inside his car hours after being abducted by unknown gunmen outside his home in Aden.
Local sources said Qaid was abducted in front of his home in the Inma area by unidentified gunmen traveling in a blue Hyundai Accent on Saturday afternoon.
A video circulated online on Saturday showed the moment the gunmen intercepted his vehicle and took him to an unknown location.
He was later found dead inside his car in the Al-Haswa area, with the perpetrators fleeing the scene. The motives behind the killing and those responsible remain unclear.
The incident comes at a sensitive time, reflecting escalating tensions and rivalries among factions backed by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, particularly amid an ongoing power struggle in Aden and other southern provinces.
It is part of a wave of assassinations that has gripped the city, including the killing of Islah party figure Abdulrahman al-Shaer on April 25 in the Mansoura district, followed by a failed assassination attempt targeting a mosque preacher in the same area.
Aden has increasingly become a battleground for political score-settling, with rival groups seeking to undermine one another by targeting executive and religious figures, amid deteriorating security conditions in the city since 2016.
