Head of the popular committees whose fighters are supporting the authorities to fight Al-Qaeda in Abyan province in south Yemen survived an assassination plot on Wednesday, the defense ministry reported.
Abdullatif Al-Sayed and a number of the pro-government fighters were targeted by a car bomb at his home but no one was hurt, it said.
An Al-Qaeda suicide bomber blew up himself and the car bomb at Al-Sayed’s home in the Jaar town where an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber targeted a funeral ceremony killing and injuring scores of pro-government fighters earlier this week, it said.
Another fellow terrorist ran away after the explosion, it added.
After the August 4th attack, the authorities carried out several operations and airstrikes killing, injuring and arresting a number of Al-Qaeda suspects.
The Yemeni army drove Al-Qaeda militants out of their strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces in May. In the US-backed offensive, hundreds of militants including senior leaders were killed and arrested.
Earlier today, the authorities arrested seven Al-Qaeda members including key leader and a Somali. The arrests took place inside a home in Jaar, the ministry said.
The leader, Abu Musab, was the financial officer of Al-Qaeda in Abyan and he had led the militants to attack the central bank office when they occupied Zinjibar in mid-2011, it said, adding that Abu Musab had also led the militants who were stationed in the Khanfar palace and the security office.