SANAA (AFP) - Unknown assailants wounded an Iranian diplomat in a drive-by shooting outside the ambassador's residence in the Yemeni capital on Saturday, police and a medic said.

"Unidentified assailants in a van fired on the diplomat three times as he was leaving the ambassador's residence near a shopping centre in Hadda," the main diplomatic district of Sanaa, a police source said.

A medic at the capital's Modern German Hospital said the diplomat had been hit in the shoulder and was in a stable condition.