Yemeni journalist killed by car bomb in Aden

Attack similar to incident in November that killed pregnant Yemeni journalist Rasha Abdullah Al Harazi

All that is left of the car in which Saber al-Haidary was killed by an explosive device in Aden, Yemen, on June 15, 2022. Reuters

A Yemeni journalist was killed by a car bomb in the country's port city of Aden, headquarters of the internationally recognised government, a security official said on Thursday.

"Unidentified assailants planted an explosive device in the vehicle of journalist Saber Al Haidari, who works for a number of foreign media outlets," the official told AFP.

The bomber struck on Wednesday night, the official said, as "Haidari was heading home, killing him and injuring others who were in the car".

He said the attack was similar to a car bombing that killed pregnant Yemeni journalist Rasha Abdullah Al Harazi in November. Her husband, Mahmud Al Atmi, also a journalist, was wounded in the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that Haidari "was killed yesterday [Wednesday] night after an explosive device was placed in his car".

It said he had been working as a correspondent for China's Xinhua News Agency.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and his loyalists to flee to Aden and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led military intervention in 2015 has allowed the government to recover Aden and much of the south.

But the fighting has left hundreds of thousands of dead and millions more displaced in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemeni journalists covering the conflict face threats of retribution from all sides. These include from the extremists of Al Qaeda as well as the rebels and government loyalists, RSF said.

"Militias subject them to violence and abuse, and they risk being the targets of death threats, murder or bombings," the watchdog said.