SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni provincial official says a bomb hidden inside the car of a senior police official has exploded and killed him in the south of the country.

The official said that Col. Abdullah al-Maouzaei, charged with hunting down members of al-Qaida’s Yemen branch, had survived three previous assassination attempts before Thursday’s blast in the port city of Aden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

He blamed the attack on Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the most dangerous offshoot of the terror group. It seized several cities in southern Yemen during last year’s uprising. Since May, government troops have retaken many of its strongholds.

In retaliation, al-Qaida has staged bombings including assassination attempts of top security officials.