Aden: The governor of the southern Yemeni city of Aden survived a car bomb attack targeting his convoy on Friday, security officials and eyewitnesses said.
A parked car detonated as Aidaroos Al Zubairi and vehicles carrying his bodyguards and retinue drove by in the Inma area.
The attack caused no casualties and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A civil war has raged for over a year in the Arabian Peninsula nation, and security chaos has gripped the port city – the temporary seat of Yemen’s internationally-recognised government.
Al Zubairi was appointed governor of Aden after his predecessor was killed in a car bombing on December 6 claimed by Daesh, the latest attack by the new Yemen branch of the terror group against government targets.
Assassins have tried several times before to kill Al Zubairi in car bomb blasts.
Daesh has stepped up operations since the outbreak of civil war in Yemen, emerging as a significant rival to Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap), the main militant group in the country in recent years.
A mostly Gulf Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war on March 26 to support the government and fight the Al Houthi militia, which it accuses of being a proxy for its regional arch-rival Iran.
Pro-government forces last year drove the Iran-backed Al Houthi insurgents and their allies out of southern provinces, including Aden, but have struggled to assert their authority in areas controlled by terrorists.
With the help of coalition forces, mainly from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, loyalists launched an offensive against Al Qaida in March, pushing the terrorists out of neighbourhoods in Aden and several provincial capitals.
