Top south Yemen officials survive bombing: security sources

Three senior south Yemeni officials survived a car bombing that targeted their convoy in the port city of Aden Tuesday and killed one of their guards, security sources said.

Eight other guards were wounded when the bomb-laden vehicle exploded in the Inmaa district, the sources told AFP.

Medics confirmed the toll.

Newly appointed Aden Governor Aidarus al-Zubaidi, city police chief General Shallal Ali Shayae and the governor of neighbouring Lahj province, Naser al-Khubaji, were travelling in the convoy.

They were returning from a visit to a camp of Emirati troops taking part in the Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March, the sources said.

The assassination attempt comes after Yemeni security forces arrested a local Al-Qaeda leader during a sweep targeting jihadists in the southern city, security officials said.

Shayae vowed late Monday that authorities will "cleanse all (of Aden's) neighbourhoods from terrorists".

Aidarus was appointed in December after his predecessor, Jaafar Saad, was killed in an Aden bombing claimed by the Islamic State group.

Aden, the government's temporary capital, has seen a growing jihadist presence, with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and IS apparently vying for influence.

Photo: File picture of members of Aden's police force at a checkpoint (france24.com)