Bomb blast injures Yemen Defense Minister, kills bystanders

UPDATE1- Five killed & 13 injured


The Yemeni Defense Minister was targeted in a suicide attack along with guards in the capital of Sana’a on Tuesday at noon, said a security officer.

An explosive laden car targeted the minister’s convoy when he was exiting a cabinet meeting, killing five people and injuring 13. The Defense Minister’s car was severely burned. “He was injured and now at al-Orthi [the president hospital] receiving treatment,” said the officer, who spoke on anonymity condition.

Four of the minister’s guards were killed, along with the workers of a nearby grocery store, and a family living in an adjacent apartment building. An eyewitness said “You arrived late, they finished picking up pieces of flesh from the walls a minute ago.”

 The suicide attack came one day after the Yemeni government announced it killed Saeed al-Shihri, the second in command in Yemen’s branch of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

“It bears the hallmark of al-Qaeda and it [the attack on the Defense Minister, Muhammad Ali Ahmed] probably is in retaliation for al-Shihri’s death,” the officer said, one deputy of the interior minister.

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