Yemen: Lahj police chief injured in suicide bomb attack

Yemen: Lahj police chief injured in suicide bomb attack
A suicide bombing targeted the convoy of Lahj's provincial police chief wounding him and killing and injuring a number of other people.
2 min read
04 February, 2016
The attack follows a string of killings and bombings [AFP]
Lahj provincial police chief Colonel Adel al-Halemi was lightly wounded in a suicide bomb attack on his convoy in the port city of Aden late on Wednesday.

A source close to Halemi told The New Arab that the bombing targeted one of the vehicles in the colonel's convoy after he was on his way back to his house in the eastern part of al-Mimdara, an area in the Sheikh Othman district of Aden.

A number of other people were killed or hurt, according to a security official, who did not give more details on the casualties.

The explosion, which shook the city, was followed by gun fire.

Colonel Halemi had previously received death threats from Al-Qaeda in al-Houta city in Lahj after he visited the city and promised that the police will return to the city to maintain security there last week.

The attack follows a string of killings and bombings against government targets in loyalist-controlled southern Yemen.

Pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition have since July recaptured Aden, Lahj and three other southern provinces from Shia Houthi rebels who seized large parts of Yemen, including Sanaa.

However Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP] fighters took control of al-Houta, the capital of Lahj on 26 January.

More than 5,800 people have been killed since the coalition launched an air and ground war against the rebels in March, according to the United Nations.