"A bomb exploded in the car of General Ahmed Mohammed Saleh al-Omari, logistics and supplies officer of the third military region... wounding him and his son" in Aden's Al-Mansura district, a military official said, Both were hospitalised but Omari later died of his wounds, the official and a medical source said.

Yemeni authorities blame Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has been branded by Washington as the extremist network's deadliest franchise, for most attacks on members of the security forces.

In late April, the army launched a ground offensive against AQAP in Shabwa and nearby Abyan provinces, both in the south.

The group is active across several parts of Yemen, having exploited the collapse of central authority during a 2011 uprising that ousted veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh.