4 Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide bomb attack at Aden checkpoint

Four pro-government Yemeni soldiers were killed and seven others injured when a suicide bomber struck a military checkpoint in the southern port city of Aden Wednesday, a security official told Xinhua.

"An attacker wearing an explosive belt detonated himself among a group of soldiers at a military checkpoint in Aden's neighborhood of Mansourah, leaving four soldiers killed and seven others injured," the Yemeni source said on condition of anonymity.

The security source said that the suicide attack occurred when the soldiers gathered to have lunch together near the checkpoint.

Another source of Aden's Police Command said that "a young man approached the soldiers as they were gathering for lunch and briefly joined them leaving behind a sack with explosives that caused a huge blast."

Medical sources at Buraihi hospital confirmed to Xinhua saying that some of the soldiers were critically injured during the blast.

Dozens of newly-trained soldiers backed by armored vehicles arrived at the bombing site, according to witnesses.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest suicide bombing that struck Aden province, where the Saudi-backed government has temporarily based itself.

However, the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot and the Islamic State group used to launch similar suicide bombings against Yemeni army and security forces in the past weeks.

Last month, the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombing attacks that struck military posts and an intelligence compound in Hadramout, leaving more than 48 killed.

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.

The fragile security situation in the country has deteriorated since March 2015 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.

More than 6,400 people have been killed in ground battles and air strikes since then, half of them civilians. Endit