Officials confirmed on Saturday that Aden Governor, Wahid Rashid had indeed escaped an assassination attempt on Friday evening, unarmed but shaken.
His car was attacked by a group of unknown armed men as he was driving by a popular neighborhood of the southern seaport of Aden.
Eye witnesses told the press the Governor's car "was sprayed by bullets before the gunmen decided to run."
While the Governor escaped unscathed, his driver was injured.
Disturbed by such a direct attack against the state institutions, Governor Rashid issued a statement in which he warns militias that violence, murder and lawlessness will nor be tolerated neither permitted by the authorities. He emphasized that murder will never serve the best interests of the nation, and that only through dialogue would Yemenis move past old feuds and issues.
The authorities could not so far assigned blame for the attack.
Such a direct attack against Aden province highest state authority came a day after UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar called on the transition government to enact immediate reforms in its southern provinces as to diffuse mounting anger and frustration toward the central government.
Despite reiterated calls to participate at Yemen National Dialogue Conference, radical factions of the Harak (Southern Secessionist Movement) do not believe the state is truthful in its promises of change, refusing therefore to discuss anything other than secession.
As southerners are rallying around uncompromising leading figures such as Ali Salem al-Baidh (former president of South Yemen) and Hassan Baoun, calls for secession have become louder.