Off the wire
• PSV push Feyenoord back in Dutch title race  • Iran woos int'l investment as nuclear deal takes effect  • Georgia reports first death from swine flu this year  • Feature: Theater in Italian prisons plays important role in reforming convicts  • Ex-president of Timor-Leste hails visit of Chinese naval flotilla  • Urgent: Al-Shabaab claims killed 100 Kenyan soldiers in base attack  • Green energy funding faces conflicting global conditions: experts  • 1st LD Writethru: Al-Shabaab claims killed 100 Kenyan soldiers in base attack  • Urgent: U.S. imposes new sanctions on Iran  • Feature: Horse races become popular in Gaza Strip amid hard times  
You are here: 　 Home

2nd LD: 8 killed as car bomb hits home of security chief in Yemen's Aden

Xinhua, January 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

A booby-trapped car struck the home of the security chief of Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday, killing about eight people, a police official told Xinhua.

"A four-wheel-drive vehicle loaded with explosives struck the main gate of the residential building of Aden's security chief, Brigadier Shalal Ali Shayea, leaving eight people dead mostly bodyguards," the local police official said on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses confirmed to Xinhua that "a huge blast was heard near the house of Aden's security chief in Aden's neighborhood of Tawahi and followed by exchange of heavy gunfire."

A spokesman for Aden's local government told Xinhua over phone that "for the second time, Brigadier General Shalal Shayea survived a terrorist car bombing unharmed, but some soldiers were killed and others injured at the scene."

A medical source said that initial information indicate that eight soldiers were killed in the attack, including the suicide bomber who slammed his explosives-laden car into the building.

An unspecified number of civilians who were present in the area wounded during the car bombing, according to the medical source.

The port city of Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, has been witnessing a state of chaos and lawlessness during the past months resulted in the assassination of Aden's governor, several security officers and judges.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the second failed assassination attempt against Aden's security chief, but police usually blame militants of al-Qaida or the Islamic State (IS) for such attacks.

Last month, the IS claimed the assassination of Aden's former governor along with six of his bodyguards after a bomb struck his official vehicle in Aden.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the IS.

The security situation in the country has deteriorated since March when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians. Endit