“Islamic State” has claimed responsibility for a auto bomb that killed the governor of Aden and six of his bodyguards.
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In a statement posted on a messaging service, the IS group said it had detonated an explosives-laden auto when Saad’s convoy passed in a western district of Aden.
“Mr Saad was a significant figure not just as the administrative head of Aden, but for the role he played in driving Houthi rebels out of the port city earlier this year, our correspondent says”.
Despite overwhelming firepower and air support from countries in the Saudi coalition, Hadi has struggled to impose his authority on Aden and other regions.
Forces loyal to Hadi backed by mainly Persian Gulf Arab states have been locked in eight months of civil war with the Houthis who rule the capital Sana’a. As coalition forces have focused on vanquishing the rebels – fighting the Houthis in the city of Taiz, and in Marib, east of Sanaa – the advance appears to have left the south exposed.
Saad was appointed Aden governor by a presidential decree issued by Hadi on October 8.
The vehicle bombing comes a day after Yemen’s United Nations envoy held talks with Hadi in Aden, aimed at kick-starting peace talks between the warring sides.
In a statement which was circulated online by supporters, an IS affiliate had claimed the attack saying that the bomb was been concealed in a parked vehicle along the convoy’s route.
If the claim were true, it would constitute the most high-profile assassination by the Islamic State group in Yemen.
Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened as the civil war worsened in March but making few gains toward retaking the capital in a war that has killed over 5,700 people. It wants to establish governance in Yemen based on a strict interpretation of Sunni Islamic law.
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“There is a security vacuum in Aden”. Mr. Hadi returned there in November from exile in Saudi Arabia.
