Six killed in suicide bombing in Yemen's Aden

Six people including five Yemeni soldiers and one attacker were killed and more than 10 others injured as a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police checkpoint in Aden on Tuesday morning, a security official told Xinhua.

"A suicide bomber with strapped explosive device in his body blew himself up next to a police checkpoint in the Suzuki roundabout in Aden's neighborhood of Sheikh Othman, killing five soldiers on the spot and injuring ten others, " the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

He said that "a group of soliders were struck by a coward terrorist operation while they were doing their national duties in maintaining the security affairs at a military checkpoint in Aden."

The bomber was also killed in his blast, which targeted a checkpoint of newly-trained soldiers in Aden, the security official of Aden's Police Command added.

The local security official also blamed the attack on the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, which has large influence and presence in the southern regions due to the government's absence and the security vacuum.

Scores of gunmen linked to the al-Qaida and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State group took control over key government compounds after defeating the Shiite Houthi forces last year.

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 former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

The turbulent and complicated security situation in Aden and neighboring southern provinces of Lahj and Abyan is one of the biggest challenges for the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces operating in Aden.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition has dispatched thousands of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Sudan and Bahrain into five anti-Houthi southern provinces to support and train local Yemeni security forces there. Endit