MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) – Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for twin suicide car bomb attacks on an army headquarters in southeastern Yemen on Tuesday, killing at least seven soldiers, reports AFP.
The explosive-laden vehicles were detonated at the entrance to the army base and inside the camp grounds in the town of Seiyun in Hadramout province.
Ansar al-Sharia, the main affiliate of al-Qaeda in Yemen, said in a brief statement on Twitter that its militants carried out the attacks, claiming to have left "dozens of dead and wounded”
The fight between the Yemeni army and the local al-Qaeda branch has been raging in Seiyun, the biggest city in Hadramout province, since last summer.
According to the AFP, Yemen has permitted the United States to carry out drone attacks on its territory against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered by Washington as the most vicious affiliate of the jihadist network.
On Saturday, US Special Forces tried to free two hostages being held by AQAP, American journalist Luke Somers, 33, and South African teacher Pierre Korkie, 57. The rescue unfortunately failed, as both of them were killed by the militants when commandos stormed the AQAP hideout where they were being held in southeastern Yemen.
The continuing instability in Yemen, which is also a key shipping route from Suez Canal to the Gulf, has raised concerns, as it is feared that the country could become a failed state fueling instability across the region, as reported by AFP.
