Aden's police chief escapes suicide car bombing in Yemen, 4 injured

A suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the residential building of Aden's police chief on Thursday morning, leaving four people injured, a military official told Xinhua.

The police chief of Aden province, Gen. Shalal Shayea, escaped unharmed in the attack, which targeted his house in Aden's neighborhood of Tawahi, the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

It was the third failed attempt by suspected al-Qaida assailants to assassinate Shayea in recent weeks.

At least three cars parked nearby the house were set ablaze by the powerful blast, residents said.

A high-ranking police official told Xinhua that the bomber, disguised as a woman, managed to pass several checkpoints to reach the house of the police chief.

"Despite the tightened security measures in the area, the bomber wearing women clothes passed from several military checkpoints easily," said the officer, who demanded anonymity.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot is believed to be behind most such attacks in the past, which usually targeted security and government officials.

Security experts fear that the al-Qaida terrorist group may carry out coordinated suicide bombings against army bases in southern Yemen in revenge for the latest anti-terror military operations in the southern provinces of Lahj and Abyan.

Authorities in the port city of Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, tightened security measures near state facilities and deployed armored vehicles around the city's entrances.

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

The al-Qaida branch in Yemen, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence and seize more territories in southern Yemen.

The already fragile security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when an all-out 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