The Yemeni authorities confirmed on Sunday its security services successfully managed to foil a bomb plot hatched by al-Qaeda militants in the southern seaport city of Aden.
Acting on a tip, Aden security services stormed a house in the popular district of al-Mansoura, an area well-known for being a stronghold of the Harak (Southern Secessionist Movement) early on Sunday morning.
"An al-Qaeda terrorist cell planning to carry out terror attacks and suicide operations was discovered in a building in Aden," Xinhua quoted a source as saying. "An al-Qaeda suicide bomber was killed and an explosive-packed car was seized during the operation."
Officials confirmed that the bomb was safely disarmed on site and therefore posed no threat to the population.
The discovery of yet another terror cell in Aden comes only two days after Ansar al-Sharia gunned down of security officer in Lahj regional capital city of Huta and distributed leaflets warning of its troops imminent coming to the region.
President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi also warned last week he feared al-Qaeda was once again gathering its strength, slowly eating away at the structure of the state by targeting its security services to spread instability and create a sense of lawlessness and insecurity throughout.
Security experts also warned against a possible radicalization of other dissident groups in Yemen, namely the Houthis (Shiite rebel group) in the north and al-Harak in the south (Southern Secessionist Movement) which could play in favor of al-Qaeda, either through a tactical alliance or simply through causality.
If Yemen central government was to face a dual rebellion, al-Qaeda would then be once again able to go to the offensive, knowing Yemen military would be stretched to its limits.