Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a high-ranking officer of the criminal police investigations department in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Saturday, a military official told Xinhua.

The gunmen captured the investigative officer from a main street in Tarim city as he was returning from work, the military official said on condition of anonymity. An intelligence source also confirmed the kidnapping.

The abducted police officer, whose identity has not been revealed, works for the investigations department in Hadramout province, the official said.

The kidnappers took him to an unknown destination, he said, adding that army reinforcements were sent to help with the manhunt.

Army and intelligence officials are frequently targeted by al- Qaida militants in the country's restive southern regions.

Earlier in the day, armed men ambushed two army vehicles and killed two soldiers in Hadramout after a short exchange of fire, according to security officials in the Qatan region.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula (AQAP), known locally as partisans of the Islamic Law, were blamed by the Yemeni government for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the southern regions.

The AQAP, which emerged in January 2009, is considered as the biggest threat to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.