In this April 2, 2014, photo provided by Yemen’s Defense Ministry, Yemeni soldiers inspect the scene of a car bomb blast outside an army complex in the southern port city of Aden. (AP Photo/Yemen’s Defense Ministry)
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Six Yemeni soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a suicide attack on the headquarters of a major military command center in Aden, in southern Yemen.
Official sources and eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that suicide a car bomb targeted the southern entrance of the Fourth Military Region Headquarters in the Al-Tawahi district of Aden.
The attack, which killed at least six soldiers, also resulted in the deaths of 10 attackers.
Local sources said some of the attackers used military identification documents to reach their target and that the booby-trapped car they were driving was loaded with dates.
Yemeni authorities said the Al-Qaeda organization was responsible for the attack, according to a report by the official Saba news agency.
Meanwhile, an official at the Yemeni Interior Ministry said these operations were an extension of a series of recent attacks, which exploited the weakness of the state and the existing differences between political parties.
Dr. Mohamed Al-Qaedi, the public relations director at the ministry, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “these terrorist and criminal organizations have seen that the state and the Interior Ministry were determined to pursue the criminals and impose stability and security, and therefore they want to make their presence known and exploit the status quo, which is based on sloppiness and slackness in all state institutions.”
“Security institutions were serious about strengthening security and stability and imposing discipline in the country, because there is a war going on. There is great concern from the security officers, as many of these terrorist attacks result in heavy losses for the terrorists, except a few operations where the terrorists achieve their aims.”