11 killed in attack on Yemen army headquarters

An al-Qaeda attack on an army command in a southern port city of Yemen has left nearly a dozen people dead, military officials say.

At least six Yemeni soldiers, two civilians and three al-Qaeda militants were killed in an attack on military headquarters in the port city of Aden on Wednesday.

The incident happened when assailants crashed a car packed with explosives at the army command gate and then exchanged gunfire with troops who were stationed there, according to military officials.

“An unspecified number of the gunmen stormed the headquarters in an attempt to control its offices,” an unidentified official said.

The attack by “terrorists from al-Qaeda” had been foiled, state-run news agency SABA added.

The incident marks the latest in a series of such deadly attacks in Yemen.

On February 4, three people were killed in a bomb attack targeting a military bus transporting soldiers in the capital’s southern neighborhood of Dar al-Salam.

Militants attacked a military checkpoint in the city of Shibam in the southeastern province of Hadhramaut, killing 35 Yemeni soldiers on January 31.

Last December, 50 people were killed in another militant assault that targeted the Defense Ministry headquarters in Sana’a.

Al-Qaeda loyalists have carried out a spate of deadly attacks against Yemeni security forces since Ali Abdullah Saleh’s successor, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, came to power in February 2012.