25 killed as booby-trapped car hits security post in Yemen

About 25 fighters of the Shiite Houthi group were killed and scores of others wounded when a booby-trapped car struck a security post in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa on Friday, a government official told Xinhua.

A suspected al-Qaida attacker detonated his booby-trapped car at a security post held by hundreds of Houthi gunmen in Bayhan region of Shabwa province, said the official of Shabwa's local government who asked to remain anonymous.

The death toll caused by the terrorist attack reached to 25, mostly Houthi members, according to the local source.

A source close to the Houthi group confirmed to Xinhua that the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch ordered its fighters to join the fighting alongside with tribesmen allied with Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against the Houthi group in Shabwa province.

Bayhan and several regions of Shabwa province witnessed fierce battles between Houthis and pro-Hadi tribal militia during the past few days, leaving dozens of people killed from both sides.

Thousands of pro-Houthi forces were deployed Thursday at the main entrances of Shabwa province and established several checkpoints after seizing almost all the key government institutions and military bases.

A local resident in Shabwa told Xinhua by phone that "hundreds of families started to evacuate from Shabwa for fear of air strikes or possible fighting."

Residents said that warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition forces carried out on Friday the first air bombing that targeted headquarters of the 21st Armored Brigade seized by Houthis in Shabwa, where the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch has large presence.

Meanwhile, military warplanes and warships of the Saudi-led coalition forces launched Friday morning intensified bombings and shelling on several targets of the Shiite Houthi gunmen inside and around Yemen's southern port city of Aden.

Several Houthi-controlled army bases and government institutions occupied by the Shiite Houthi group in Aden's neighborhoods of Mu'alla and Cirater were bombed heavily, killing many people and causing material damages, according to local military officials.

An official with Aden's Supreme Security Committee said dozens of Houthi gunmen were killed as a result of the Saudi air raids on Friday morning, but he did not give more details or mention a specific number of casualties.

Local residents told Xinhua by phone that a number of cars were destroyed and windows of nearby residential buildings were also shattered during the airstrikes early Friday morning in Aden's neighborhood of Mu'alla.

The security situation in Yemen has sharply deteriorated since early March when conflicts erupted in several provinces in the country's southern regions.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia started late last month air strikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and other cities, saying the multinational action is to protect Hadi's legitimacy and force the Houthis to retreat from cities they have seized since September 2014. Endit