Yemeni governors and police chief survive assassination attempt

Several senior Yemeni officials survived an assassination attempt as their convoy was bombed in Aden on Tuesday.

Aden governor General Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the governor of Lahj province Dr Nasser al-Khubaji, Aden police chief General Shallal Ali Shayae and other officials were travelling when a bomb-laden vehicle exploded near theirs in the Inmaa district of the port city of Aden.

Two bodyguards were killed and several others were wounded.

The officials were targeted while returning from a visit to Emirati troops taking part in the Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March.

Although some reports said that the vehicle was remotely detonated, local sources told The New Arab the convoy may more likely have been targeted by a suicide attacker driving a car bomb.

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

Shayae vowed late on Monday that authorities would "cleanse all [Aden's] neighbourhoods from terrorists".

Zubaidi 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 militant presence, with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, vying for influence with the Islamic State group.