Yemeni governor, five body guards killed in car bomb attack

Tragedy struck on Sunday when a car bomb killed the governor of the Yemeni city of Aden, Major General Jaafar Mohammed Saad and five of his bodyguards in a car bomb attack in Aden’s Tawahi district in the country’s south.

Saad, who returned to Aden last month after several months in exile in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was recently appointed governor of Aden and was known to be a close confidant of President Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Tawahi has in recent months become a stronghold for several armed groups, including al-Qaeda whose fighters have expanded across the area.

Pro-Hadi forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since March, when the Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and advanced south – forcing Hadi’s government to flee.

Saad’s killing comes a day after the United Nations envoy in the country held talks with Hadi in Aden aimed at kickstarting peace talks between the warring sides.

On Saturday, masked gunmen on motorcycles carried out separate attacks on vehicles in Aden, killing Colonel Aqeel al-Khodr, a military intelligence official, and Judge Mohsen Alwan, who was known for sentencing al-Qaeda fighters.

Three other people were killed in the attack on Alwan, which was not immediately claimed.

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