ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen assassinated the commander of the anti-drug security forces in the southern port city of Aden on Sunday, a government official told Xinhua.

Three masked gunmen ambushed Fadhel Sael while he was heading to his workplace, a local official said on condition of anonymity.

"The gunmen rained Fadhel's car with a barrage of gunshots from different directions, killing him along with two of his bodyguards in Aden," the source said.

The assassinated official was the commander of an elite security unit and conducted anti-drug operations in Aden in the past years, according to the source.

An anonymous officer of the anti-drug security unit told Xinhua that the assassination is "an obvious ... revenge for what happened" just four days ago, in which "a number of suspected drugs traffickers were killed in an exchange of fire with the security soldiers."

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Security forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates, later launched an investigation and raided locations held by suspected gunmen in Aden.

Government officials, including high-ranking security commanders and intelligence officers, have been the prime targets in kidnapping incidents as well as armed attacks launched by unknown gunmen in recent days.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the 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 Houthi rebels forced him into exile.