Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that left a senior commander in the southern port city of Aden killed on Monday morning.
Earlier the day, only a few hours after withdrawing from Azan, al-Qaeda stronghold in the southeastern province of Shabwa, a Somali national blew himself up and killed Salem Qatan, the commander of the Southern Military Region, as well as two of his guards.
Qatan has a major role in dislodging the militants from their strongholds in Abyan as the military troops under his command have been very active since he assumed his position two months ago.
In a statement of which BBC obtained a copy, al-Qaeda said that the attack is retaliation to the military campaign waged against its militants in Abyan's towns, vowing to target more officials in the days to come.
After it pulled out from the three key strongholds in Abyan province, al-Qaeda threatened to move the war to the capital and that it would chase the" crusaders —the leaders of the war against the terror network-- to their cities and palaces.