The commander of military forces in the south of Yemen was killed by a suicide bomber in the port city of Aden yesterday, days after troops drove Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda from their southern strongholds.
The killing of Maj Gen Salem Ali Qatan highlighted the tenuous grip of Yemen’s central authorities on the south despite a month of US-supported bombardments and air strikes aimed at crushing the militants.
The defence ministry said a suicide bomber hurled himself at Maj Gen Qatan’s vehicle, also killing two soldiers escorting him. It identified the bomber as a Somali but gave no other details.
A doctor at the hospital where Maj Gen Qatan died said 12 other people, nine of them soldiers, were wounded in the attack in Aden, a port city fewer than 100km (60 miles) from several cities that Islamists linked to al-Qaeda recently controlled.
Washington is increasingly concerned about the militant presence in Yemen and has backed the military with training, intelligence and increased aid, although the Pentagon has declined to give details of the scale of the assistance. Maj Gen Qatan was a central figure in plans to restructure Yemen’s military.
– (Reuters)