Southern Yemeni officials survive car bomb attack in Aden

Aden, January 5

Three senior southern Yemeni officials survived a suicide car bomb attack on their convoy in Aden and a subsequent gun battle that killed three of their guards on Tuesday, a government spokesman and security sources said.

The incident highlights the security chaos in the port city, the temporary seat of Yemen's embattled government, as its loyalists seek to wrest the capital Sanaa from the Iran-allied Houthi movement with support from a Saudi-led coalition.

"A suicide bomber in a car detonated as the convoy of the governors of Aden and Lahj provinces along with the Aden security director passed through the area of Inma," Nizar Anwar, a government spokesman said.

Three soldiers were killed in the exchange of fire that followed the attack, security sources said, before the assailants retreated into the surrounding desert.

Aidaroos al-Zubairi was appointed governor of Aden after his predecessor was killed in a car bomb attack on December 6 claimed by Islamic State, the latest attack by the new Yemen branch of the militant group against government targets.

Islamic State' has stepped up operations since the outbreak of civil war in Yemen, emerging as a forceful rival to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the main militant group in the country in recent years.

Security officials have launched a crackdown on suspected militants, imposing a curfew and arresting at least 70 suspects overnight, according to security sources.

The mostly Gulf Arab alliance intervened in Yemen's civil war on March 26 to support the government.

Alliance and anti-Houthi forced seized Aden from the Houthis over the summer but have yet to impose their writ on the city, where militants and other gunmen have a prominent presence.

Meanwhile, Yemeni security forces have arrested a local Al-Qaeda leader during a sweep targeting jihadists in the southern city of Aden, security officials said on Tuesday.

The capture of Mohammed al-Lahji, the al Qaeda chief in the city's Tawahi district, along with two of his bodyguards sparked a gunfight overnight in which a policeman was wounded, they said.

The government imposed a night-time curfew in Aden for one month after clashes on Sunday blamed on jihadists 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."

Life 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 Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi set up checkpoints across the city, they added.

Sunday's clashes erupted when forces loyal to Hadi came up against resistance while trying to secure the Aden port, security sources said.

Pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the facility after hours of fighting.

Aden, declared by the government to be the temporary capital, has seen a growing jihadist presence with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and the Islamic State group apparently vying for influence.

The extremists are occupying government buildings and are frequently seen patrolling several districts of the city.

"We will work on forcing the armed groups out of government buildings. We will cleanse all neighbourhoods from terrorists" Aden police chief General Shallal Ali Shayae told reporters late on Monday.

The city was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before expanding south.

Loyalists have regained control of Aden and four other southern provinces since July, but the rebels still hold Sanaa and have besieged the third city of Taez for months.

Peace talks held in Switzerland last month ended without any breakthrough after a ceasefire aimed at calming tensions was widely violated. — Agencies