Senior officials from south survive assassination bid
HOMES ARE BEING SEARCHED TO HUNT DOWN TERRORISTS INVOLVED, GOVERNMENT SAYS
Three senior south Yemeni officials survived a car bombing that targeted their convoy in the port city of Aden yesterday and killed one of their guards, security sources said.
Eight other guards were wounded when the bombladen vehicle exploded in the Inmaa district, the sources told AFP. Medics confirmed the toll.
Newly appointed Aden Governor Aidarus Al Zubaidi, city police chief General Shallal Ali Shayae and the governor of neighbouring Lahj province, Nasser Al Khubaji, were travelling in the convoy.
They were returning from a visit to a camp of Emirati troops taking part in the Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March, the sources said.
Aidarus was appointed in December after his predecessor, Jaafar Sa’ad, was killed in an Aden bombing claimed by Daesh.
Sweep
The assassination attempt comes after security forces arrested a local Al Qaida leader during a sweep targeting the terrorists in the southern city, security officials said.
The capture of Mohammad Al Lahji, the group’s chief in the Tawahi district, along with two of his bodyguards, sparked a gunfight overnight in which a policeman was wounded, they said. The government imposed a one-month night-time curfew in Aden on Monday, a day after clashes blamed on militants killed at least 22 people, including 10 members of the security forces.
An official at the Aden governor’s office said that “homes in Tawahi and Mualla districts are being searched one by one to hunt down terrorists”.
Business came to a near halt in Aden as the curfew took effect, with shops closed and streets empty, residents and security officials said.
Pro-government forces trained by a Saudi-led coalition supporting President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi set up checkpoints across the city, they added. Sunday’s clashes erupted when pro-government forces came up against resistance while trying to secure Aden’s port, security sources said.
Yemeni forces eventually managed to take control of the facility after hours of fighting.
“We will work on forcing the armed groups out of government buildings. We will cleanse all neighbourhoods from terrorists,” Shayae told reporters late Monday. The city was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Al Houthi militants.