High-ranking Yemeni security commander escapes suicide car bombing

A suicide car bombing hit the residential building of a high-ranking security commander in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Wednesday night, but he escaped with slight injures, a military official told Xinhua.

"A four-wheel-drive vehicle loaded with explosives struck the house of the security commander of neighboring southern provinces of Lahj, Brigadier Adel Halimi, in Aden province," the local military official said on condition of anonymity.

The Yemeni source said that the newly-appointed commander of Lahj security forces was slightly injured in the car bombing that targeted his house located in Aden province.

Witnesses near the scene confirmed to Xinhua that "a huge blast targeted the motorcade of Lahj's security chief near his house."

An Aden-based resident told Xinhua over phone that "I watched two cars burning at the scene and and injured bodyguards were moved ambulances to nearby hospitals."

"About six bodyguards of Lahj's security chief who were critically wounded in the terrorist attack are now receive medical care at Aden's Public Hospital," a medic said.

Last week, the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State group announced its responsibility for a suicide bombing near the outer gate of Yemen's Presidential Palace in Aden and threatened to carry out more violent attacks.

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

Three weeks ago, scores of militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and the Islamic State group exploited the current security vacuum and seized small villages after storming government facilities in southern provinces of Lahj, Abyan and Shabwa.

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 Islamic State.

Security situation in the country has deteriorated since March when 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. Endit