The officials said the device placed on the colonel's car seriously wounded his driver and two passers-by on Sunday.
They spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations, which also prevented them from giving the officer's name.
Last month, an intelligence general was shot dead in the province of Lahij.
Officials believe the attacks were in retaliation for a military offensive that pushed al-Qaida militants out of their strongholds in southern Yemen.
Al-Qaida has launched a string of such attacks. The Yemen offshoot is considered by Washington as the group's most dangerous branch. AP