Sana’a: A Yemeni security official says a gunman in the southern province of Lahj killed a man suspected of being of gay, the latest in a series of attacks on homosexuals in the country.

Eyewitness Ahmad Hadi said that Waleed Saleh Awedan, 25, was shot by a man riding a motorbike near his home on Monday evening. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to brief reporters.

At least 34 people have been killed in similar attacks in the past two years, many in the southern provinces, which have been under intermittent Al Qaida control. Homosexuality is a crime in Yemen.

Also on Tuesday, the security director of Aden province, Najib Al Moughlis, said that two soldiers were killed in a firefight between security forces and unknown attackers.