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At least 11 dead in suicide bombing and gun attack in southern Yemen

27 March 2017 20:06 (UTC +04:00)

At least 11 people were killed in a suicide bombing and gun attack by suspected al Qaeda militants on a local government compound in southern Yemen on Monday, a Yemeni government media office said in a statement, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The attack is the latest in a series of operations by Islamist militants who have exploited a two-year-civil war to try to expand their control and recruit more followers in the country, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia.

The government media office said security forces confronted a suicide bomber who tried to drive a mini-bus laden with explosives into a government compound in al-Houta, the Lahj provincial capital.

Security forces opened fire on the bus and clashed with militants wearing military uniforms who attacked the compound with automatic weapons, it said in the statement, adding that six security personnel and all the attackers died.

Officials said there were five attackers in all.

"The situation is now under control," the statement quoted a security official as saying.

Al Qaeda's local wing, known as Ansar al-Sharia, said "dozens were killed or wounded" in a suicide bombing and gun attack on a Lahj security compound.

Islamist militants from both Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State have carried out a series of attacks, often targeting security forces or government facilities in southern Yemen.

The United States has recently stepped up attacks on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which it sees as the main threat to western interests, launching repeated air strikes on targets in central and southern Yemen.

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22:06

At least six security personnel were killed Monday in a suicide car-bomb attack in Yemen’s southern Lahj governorate, according to local officials who blamed the attack on Al-Qaeda, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

“The attackers targeted a government building before being intercepted by security personnel guarding the building,” read a statement issued by the governorate’s public information office.

“The car bomb exploded outside the building before Al-Qaeda gunmen sprayed the area with machine-gun fire,” the statement added.

Six security personnel and three attackers were reportedly killed in the melee.

“The security services are now pursuing the remaining Al-Qaeda elements who fled towards the nearby city of Al-Houta,” the statement read.

It was unclear whether Al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the deadly car-bomb attack.