SANAA, Yemen – Seven people were killed Sunday in a suicide bomb attack targeting the head of security in Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi’s temporary capital of Aden, witnesses said.
Aden security chief Shalal Ali Shayea was not injured in the attack on his house, local newspaper Aden al-Ghad reported, quoting sources close to Shayea.
Two of the security chief’s guards and five passers-by were killed in the attack, carried out by a bomber in an explosive-rigged car, eye witnesses told dpa.
Local fighters backed by troops from Persian Gulf nations cleared the mainly Shiite Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, from Aden in July.
Hadi and his Saudi-backed government later returned to the city from exile in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but have been unable to prevent a series of assassinations by Islamic State militants, who last month claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed the provincial governor.
Rival jihadifrom al-Qaida are also reported to be present in the city, and they control a large region of southeastern Yemen behind government lines.
In fighting between the mainly Shiite Houthis and their opponents, two other senior security officials were also killed on Sunday.
A general loyal to Hadi was killed by a bomb planted in his car in the central province of al-Baida, where the Houthis are fighting al-Qaida and local fighters.
In Sanaa, unidentified gunmen shot dead Mohammad Radman, a senior official in the Special Security Forces, loyal to the Houthis.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for any of the attacks, although the Aden bombing bore the hallmarks of Islamic State.
Islamic State has built a presence in Yemen during the 10-n-month war between the Iran-aligned Houthis and a range of local forces backed by Gulf troops and Saudi-led airstrikes.
Saudi Arabia fears that the rebels will give Shiite Iran, their regional archrival, a strategic foothold in the Arabian Peninsula.
Despite extensive airstrikes, the Saudi-led campaign has made little progress since the recapture of Aden.
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