Unidentified gunmen killed a soldier in the Sheikh Osman neighborhood of Aden on Monday evening.

It was the second killing in the city in 24 hours, after a police officer was assassinated in the Mansoura neighborhood.

Sources in Aden's local authority told Almasdar Online that masked gunmen shot the young man, who looked to be in his thirties, near a shop in the market of Sheikh Osman and then left immediately. 

The motives for the killing are not known, but it comes amid a series of assassinations targeting soldiers and citizens in Aden. It is believed by local observers that most of the killings are linked to reprisals, personal retaliation and theft. 

The sources did not identify the victim by name, but said that he was part of an armed faction operating on Yemen’s west coast, fighting against the Houthis for nearly three years.