The governor of Yemen's port city of Aden, Major-General Jaafar Mohammed Saad, has been killed in an attack along with five of his bodyguards.

Unknown assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at Saad's car in the Tawahi district in Aden, state-run SABA news agency confirmed on Sunday morning.

Earlier reports said six bodyguards were killed in the attack.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet.

Saad was only recently appointed governor and was known to be close to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who returned to Aden last month after several months in exile in Riyadh.

Pro-Hadi forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have battled Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since March, after the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa and advanced south, forcing Hadi's government to flee.

Saad's death comes a day after the country's UN envoy held talks with Hadi in Aden aimed at kick-starting peace talks between the warring sides.

Hisham al-Omeisy, a Yemeni political analyst, said the assassination of the governor was only the latest in a series of political killings in Aden in recent months.

"Major General Jaafar Mohammed Saad was pro-cession of the south of Yemen and was under a lot of pressure," Omeisy said, speaking to Al Jazeera from Sanaa.

"He was blocked from getting to his office several times in the past weeks and his movement in the city was very restricted. To a lot of people in Aden, this attack does not come as much of a surprise," Omeisy added.

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Major General Jafar Mohammed Saad

Al-Jazeera