Car bomb kills Yemeni military commander in Aden

Maj Gen Thabet Jawas, three guards and one of his relatives were killed, officials say

A pro-government Yemeni fighter stands next to a car in the area where Maj Gen Thabet Jawas and others were killed in Aden, Yemen, on March 23. AFP

A car bomb rocked Yemen’s southern city of Aden on Wednesday, killing a senior military official and at least four others, officials said.

The bombing hit the convoy of Maj Gen Thabet Jawas, commander of Al Anad Axis in southern Yemen, they said.

Gen Jawas was driving to his home in Aden after he attended the funeral of a relative in Laj province when a parked car exploded as his convoy passed a fuel storage centre, the officials said.

The dead also included three guards and one of his relatives, the officials said.

Images from the scene showed fire with charred bodies on the ground.

Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and Prime Minister Maeen Saeed mourned the death of Gen Jawas, describing the explosion as a “terrorist attack".

Aden has been the seat of the internationally recognised government since the Houthi rebels seized the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014, starting the country’s conflict.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but the city has been rocked by several explosions in past years, which were blamed on local affiliates of Al Qaida and ISIS.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have also targeted the city with ballistic missiles and explosives-laden drones.

In October, at least 14 people were killed in two explosions in Aden.

In the southern province of Abyan, a car bombing last week claimed by an Al Qaida affiliate was aimed at a senior security official, It killed four of his companions.