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Suspected al-Qaida gunmen blow up intelligence compound in Yemen's Aden

Xinhua, August 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Suspected al-Qaida gunmen blew up an intelligence compound in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Saturday morning, causing a huge explosion that rocked the whole city, a government official told Xinhua.

"Gunmen from the al-Qaida terrorist group took control over the Political Security headquarters (intelligence) in Aden's district of Tawahi and then blew up the building by explosives," the local government source said on condition of anonymity.

The explosion was so huge but there were no immediate reports of casualties because the building was empty at the time of bombing, the source said.

Affiliates of the local al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have claimed responsibility for the attack in several posts online, but the claims cannot be independently verified.

On Thursday afternoon, a bomb explosion hit the headquarters of the local government in Aden, killing about five people and injuring 11 others, but the city's newly-appointed governor escaped the attack unhurt, according to security sources.

The Shiite Houthis took over Aden and several neighboring southern provinces in late March. The city has since seen bloody confrontations for the past five months which have turned the infrastructure and many neighborhoods into rubbles.

Over four weeks ago, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's forces, backed by elite troops and armored vehicles from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, launched a number of offensives to liberate Aden, Lahj and Abyan provinces from Houthi's control.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition has fought against the Shiite Houthi militia and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Aden since late March when the Houthis were besieging the city.

President Hadi has remained ousted by the Shiite Houthi group who had controlled the capital Sanaa since September. He fled to Aden, the temporary capital as he declared, in late February after weeks of house arrest, and has been taking refuge with his cabinet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh since March 26. Endit