According to Yemeni authorities, Abu Islam al-Shishai who had fought against Russian forces in Chechnya before moving to Yemen is the second commander killed since the beginning of a military offensive against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) last week.
Shishani was killed "during military operations... against terrorist elements in Abyan" province, said a statement posted on Defense Ministry website.
Yemeni forces last week launched a large-scale operation to flush al-Qaeda militants out of southern towns of the impoverished Arab country.
Yemen has witnessed regular attacks on its troops and other acts of violence, with authorities blaming al-Qaeda militants for the deadly assaults.
On April 13, at least four members of Yemeni security forces have been killed in three separate militant attacks in the country.
Suspected al-Qaeda militants attacked a special forces checkpoint at the western entrance to the port city of Mukalla, which is the provincial capital of Hadramawt, on April 8, killing four soldiers and injuring two others.
On April 4, al-Qaeda gunmen killed eight soldiers in an attack on an army post in Hadramawt. Four militants also died in the attack.
Al-Qaeda-linked violence against Yemeni security forces has grown since February 2012, when President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi came to power in a one-man election backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Hadi replaced long-time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after a year of mass protests across the country.
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