A prominent politician is said to have sponsored the deadly twin attacks at a south Yemen sports club this month that killed four and injured 17 others, the Alsahwa website reported on Wednesday.

The mastermind of the attacks, who confessed to planning and staging the bombings, had stayed and contacted other involved members led by a prominent politician from an apartment in a hotel in the Sheikh Othman district, the website, quoting a paper published in Aden, said.

His confessions revealed he had a serious criminal record including carrying out assassinations of officers and soldiers in Aden.

A day before the attacks that raised fears ahead of the 20th Gulf Cup set to take place in Aden and Abyan Provinces from November 22 to December 5, the mastermind and his cousin put a bomb at a filling station in the district, but it was not set off.

Police found the bomb and defused it.

On the attacks day, he put a bag at the weight-carrying sport hall and the square where the club visitors usually watch TV, and then he left the club, the website said, adding that the bomb exploded as he started to walk outside the club.

Shortly after the explosion, he heard a police car siren and came back seeking to target the dispatched police. He set off a bomb at the club gate killing and injuring policemen, passers-by and workers at nearby stores, it said.