Yemeni governor killed in bomb attack

ADEN. – The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for assassinating the governor of Yemen’s Aden province and six of his bodyguards in a bomb attack in the country’s temporary capital yesterday, the militant group said in a statement posted on social media.

The IS also threatened to launch more attacks against the Yemeni government in a brief statement posted on Twitter. ”Major General Jafar Mohammed Saad, the newly appointed governor of Aden, was killed in a bomb attack targeted his motorcade while he was passing through the Tawahi district in Aden heading towards his workplace at around 8:30am (local time) Sunday (yesterday),” a local military official said on condition of anonymity.

Six of his bodyguards were also killed by the explosion in the Tawahi district, where the governor’s residential building is located, the military source said.

The attack was the second in recent months that was launched against high-level officials of the exiled Yemeni government.

The fresh attach came one day after drive-by shootings killed the chief of a anti-terrorism court and military intelligence officers in Aden city.

More than 6 000 people have been killed in ground battles and air strikes since then, and half of them were civilians.

Meanwhile, a knife attacker slashed a man at an east London metro station, reportedly screaming “this is for Syria”, in what police described as a terrorist incident, prompting the government to urge Britons yesterday not to be intimidated by the attack.

A pool of blood near the ticket barriers at the Leytonstone Underground station, about 10km east of central London, could be seen in footage posted on Twitter that also showed the suspect confronting police officers on Saturday evening.

Police said initial reports indicated the man, believed to be aged 29, had also threatened other bystanders. One 56-year-old man suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries. Two other people had minor injuries, police said.

The UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed met Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden city on Saturday to discuss arrangements for peace talks between the government and Houthi forces, a source close to Yemen’s president said.

The UN-led dialogue, which is expected to be held in Geneva, has been postponed to mid-December, as the warring parties cannot reach a consensus on a cease-fire. – Xinhua