Yemen: Assassination attempt on military official's convoy leaves seven dead in Aden
Seven people were killed on Wednesday in a car bomb blast targeting the convoy of a military official in the southern Yemeni government-controlled city of Aden, security sources said.
The blast "targeted the convoy of the Lahij governorate security director, Saleh al-Sayed, in the Khormaksar neighbourhood of central Aden," a source told AFP.
At least four soldiers and three civilians were killed in the blast, added the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Sayed survived the assassination attempt.
Earlier, two military officials put the death toll at six, telling Reuters that at least five civilians and one military officer were killed, and six others were seriously wounded in the attack.
A Yemeni journalist was killed earlier in June when a bomb detonated in his car in Aden.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack but al-Qaeda has stepped up its operations in south Yemen recently.
At least 10 Yemeni soldiers were killed in the south in two separate attacks last week.
Sayed is Lahij's commander of the military units of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), a force built and trained by the United Arab Emirates.
The STC is nominally part of the Saudi-led coalition which intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthi movement ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa.
However, the STC has also fought its allies in the Yemeni government as it seeks the independence of south Yemen.
The fighting in Yemen has left hundreds of thousands of dead and millions more displaced in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
