Yemeni Police Chief Escapes Bomb Attack

A police chief in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden escaped injury on Sunday when a bomb exploded as his car passed by, a security source said.

The armored vehicle carrying special forces General Abdelhafedh al-Saqqaf was on a road near Aden airport when the device went off, the source said.

Saqqaf was uninjured but his vehicle was damaged.

The security source said the bomb appeared to have been detonated by remote control, and residents of the area said they heard shots after the blast.

Yemeni authorities often accuse al-Qaida of the near-daily deadly attacks on the army and police in the country's south and east, where the radical Islamist network is active.

Al-Qaida strengthened its presence in the areas, taking advantage of the weakness of the central authority mainly during the 2011 uprising that forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.