Bombing targets Yemen's foreign ministry in Aden

The Yemeni foreign ministry in the southern port city of Aden was the target of a bomb attack on Wednesday night, while the scale of the damage remains unclear.

The recently opened ministry building that is serving as the temporary home of the Yemeni foreign ministry was rocked by hand grenades thrown by unknown assailants on a motorcycle according to local reports.

Forces allied to President President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi closed off the roads leading to the ministry building amid a heavy deployment of troops in the surrounding areas.

The cabinet of President Hadi has recently returned to the Yemeni city of Aden after being forced to flee to the Saudi capital Riyadh when Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran the capital Sanaa and advanced south.

However, the security situation in Aden remains highly unstable with the increasing presence of al-Qaeda and Islamic State group (IS) militants.

On Sunday the governor of Aden Major General Gaafar Mohamed Saad and at least six of his bodyguards were killed by a car bomb as he made his way to his office, in an attack claimed by IS.

Also on Wednesday, militants blew up a Catholic Church in Aden. Security officials said maksed gunmen placed explosives around the church and detonated them from a distance in Aden's Mualla district.

Continued fighting

Meanwhile, raging battles between Houthi and pro-Saleh rebel forces and Arab backed pro-Hadi forces continued across the country with each side wanting to gain as much ground as possible before peace talks scheduled for 15 December.

In the highly contested city of Taiz, southwest Yemen, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting, an Australian and six Colombian mercenaries have been reportedly killed on Wednesday.

The Sydney Morning Herlad reported that the mercenaries were part of battalion of foreign troops who were working for the UAE.

It added that the Australian fighter was working for US private military contractor Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, which is accused of violations in Iraq and Afghanistan.