An Iranian diplomat kidnapped in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa last July was found beheaded in the central province of Marib on Saturday, a provincial security official told Xinhua.

"Information proved that the victim is the kidnapped Iranian diplomat," he said on condition of anonymity.

The police found the body on a desert road in an oil field, the official added.

Later in the day, the al-Qaida group in Yemen said in a statement that it killed an Iranian diplomat they have kidnapped last July in Sanaa.

"We beheaded the Iranian culture consul and dropped his body in Saffer area in the central province of Marib," the statement said without providing further details.

The diplomat, identified as Ahmed Nour Ahmed, was snatched on July 21, 2013 by gunmen near the Iranian embassy in Sanaa.

Foreigners are frequently kidnapped in Yemen by al-Qaida militants or tribesmen who asked for ransom or for the exchange for their jailed fellows. Most of the kidnapped have been freed unharmed.

Last week, gunmen shot dead an Iranian diplomat near the Iranian embassy in Sanaa. Police said the attackers gunned down the Iranian diplomat without trying to kidnap him.

The al-Qaida group in the Arabian Peninsula has accused Iran of fuelling sectarian conflicts in Yemen's northern province of Saada and supporting the Shiite rebel forces in their months-long war against the Sunni sect.

Earlier this month, the Yemeni government brokered a ceasefire agreement between the Shiite rebels and Sunni Salafis and evacuated around 15,000 Salafi families from Dammaj town in Saada province after conflicts left at least 850 people killed.