ISIL claims responsibility for assassination of Yemeni official

Special to WorldTribune.com

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for a car bombing that killed the governor of the Yemeni city of Aden and six bodyguards.

Jaafar Saad’s convoy was at the branch of the Ministry of Telecommunication in the southern city of Aden when the blast occurred, local officials said on Dec. 6.

Jaafar Mohammed Saad, left, was was known to be close to Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, right.
Jaafar Saad, left, was was known to be close to Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, right.

“Islamic State fighters were able on Sunday morning to assassinate the governor of Aden, Maj. Gen. Jaafar Mohamed Saad,” a news service associated with ISIL said in a statement. “[ISIL] fighters had parked a car filled with explosives in the Tawahi district and detonated it as the governor’s convoy passed which led to his death.”

The attack dealt a serious blow to the Yemeni leadership as Aden has become the country’s de facto capital as a Saudi-led coalition and local militias attempt to restore the rule of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

“It is clear that the government is internally busy fighting (Iran-backed Houthi rebels) and the only ones working or taking over in Yemen now are ISIL and Al Qaida in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP),” said Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Al Qaida already controls of much of southern Yemen, but ISIL has been trying to gain more territory and influence in the country, observers say.

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