A booby-trapped parcel has killed the son of a Yemeni tribal chief in an attack suspected to be the work of Al-Qaeda.

A booby-trapped parcel has killed the son of a Yemeni tribal chief in an attack suspected to be the work of Al-Qaeda, police said on Sunday.

Ali Dahab, 14, died instantly when the parcel exploded after it was given to him to pass to his father, Sheikh Majed, as a present, police said in a statement carried by the official Saba news agency.

"Terrorists from Al-Qaeda could be behind this crime."

Sheikh Majed is a known opponent of Al-Qaeda, whose militants overran his native village of Radah, in the central province of Bayda, earlier this year, before being chased out by armed tribesmen.