Governor of Yemen’s port city of Aden has been killed in a vehicle bomb attack on Sunday, media reports said.
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Jaafar Saad’s convoy was at the branch of the Ministry of Telecommunication in the southern city of Aden when the blast occurred, local officials said on December 6.
Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the explosion, but in an online statement ISIL said the bomb was concealed in a parked auto along the convoy’s route.
Saad was only recently appointed governor, and was known to be close to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who returned to Aden last month after several months in exile in Riyadh.
The Houthis, who are said to be backed by Iran, are allied with forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in what has been seen as a temporary marriage of convenience. It threatened to launch more attacks against the Yemeni government.
Speaking from Sanaa, Hisham al-Omeisy, a Yemeni political analyst, said the assassination of the governor followed the pattern of other political killings in Aden in recent months. More than 5,700 people have died in ground fighting and Saudi-led airstrikes since March.
Aden had been functioning as the de-facto capital since rebels took over Sana’a earlier in the year.
Hadi has also convened an emergency meeting of security officials and government ministers to discuss the current situation in Yemen, which has been dogged by conflict since the Houthis overran capital Sanaa one year ago.
Islamic State declared its presence in November and have carried out a number of attacks since then.
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Mohsen Alwan, a judge noted for taking on al Qaeda cases, was also assassinated in Aden on Saturday along with five guards by unknown assailants driving a pickup truck, according to a local security official.
