Gunmen opened fire on the bodyguard from a vehicle as he was leaving a supermarket Sunday in the capital's southern district of Hada. The attackers were able to flee the scene.

"We must unfortunately confirm that a German security official who was employed at the embassy in Sanaa was killed in Yemen," a German foreign ministry spokeswoman said in a statement.

"Reports about an attempted abduction of the German ambassador are unfounded," she added.

Police said the attack bore the hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has tried to attack several large Western targets, including airliners. The group is thought to have been behind a series of killings of officials in the country since 2011.

Germany was one of several Western countries that closed their embassies in August after a warning from the US of an al Qaeda attack. The embassy was later reopened.

Gunmen in northern Sanaa on Sunday kidnapped a Sierra Leone citizen working for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

rc/kms (AFP, Reuters)