Car bombing hits the convoy of General Saleh Al-Sayd, commander of the Security forces in the neighboring southern province of Lahj
A car bomb explosion struck a motorcade of a high-ranking security official in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on Wednesday afternoon, a government official told Xinhua.
“The car bomb blast hit the convoy of General Saleh Al-Sayd, commander of the Security forces in the neighboring southern province of Lahj when his motorcade was passing through a main street near Aden’s airport,” the local government source said on condition of anonymity.
The source said that the explosion killed at least five guards and two pedestrians, and destroyed an armored vehicle of the official’s convoy.
The security commander who was apparently the main target escaped the attack as he was sitting in another armored vehicle, according to the source.
Following the attack, local security forces were heavily deployed across Khormakser residential neighborhood where the blast occurred and blocked roads.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far. Several local government and security officials were targeted in similar incidents recently in Aden and elsewhere in the war-ravaged Arab country.
Considered Yemen’s temporary capital city, Aden is where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has based itself since 2015.
Local authorities are trying to maintain security and stability in Aden. However, sporadic bombing incidents and drive-by shooting attacks still occur in the strategic Yemeni port city.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthis seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government out of the capital Sanaa
Houthis Urged to lift Siege
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said that he has urged the Houthi militia to open main roads to the besieged city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen.
Grundberg noted that he made the appeal when he met on Tuesday with Mohammed Abdulsalam, Houthi’s chief negotiator for the ongoing ceasefire, in Muscat, Oman’s capital.
“We discussed the implementation of the truce, particularly the priority to open roads in Taiz and other governorates,” Grundberg wrote in a tweet, adding that Omani officials and the diplomatic community in Muscat attended the meeting.
“Opening roads is critical to ease the humanitarian suffering of Yemenis and build confidence,” the envoy noted.
ALSO READ:5 soldiers killed in Yemen despite truce
On Monday, the UN envoy held a meeting with Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, during which the leader of the Yemeni government called for the international community to exert more pressure on the Houthis to fulfill their commitment under the truce agreement.
Ending the Taiz siege is the last major term to be fulfilled under the agreement reached by the country’s warring parties before entering the ceasefire in April.
The government-controlled Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been under siege since the civil war erupted in Yemen in late 2014. Lifting the blockade would facilitate the movement of citizens and their access to humanitarian aid.
