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Authorities in Yemen have arrested a suspect in the killing of a World Food Programme staffer in Taez province, a security official told AFP on Saturday.

Moayad Hameidi, the head of the UN agency's office in Taez, was killed in a shooting Friday in the nearby city of Turbah, the Rome-based WFP has confirmed.

"The perpetrator of the criminal assassination of the United Nations employee in the city of Turbah in Taez (province)... has been in the city of Taez since 2017, after fleeing Aden due to security operations against Al-Qaeda operatives," the security official said late Friday.

Speaking on condition on anonymity, the Taez province official was unable to confirm whether the suspect belonged to the jihadist group.

The official later told AFP that the man previously identified as the main suspect had been arrested, while another suspect was still at large.

"Fifteen other members of a terrorist organisation active in the Turbah region" were also at large, the source added.

Aden has been the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government since Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.

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