Yemen's al Qaeda wing says targeted Aden governor with bomb attack - SITE

People gather at the site of a car bomb attack that targeted the convoy of Aidaroos al-Zubaidi, the governor of the southern port city of Aden, Yemen July 15, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen's al Qaeda wing has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that targeted the governor of the southern city of Aden, according to U.S. monitoring group SITE. Security officials said on Friday that a car packed with explosives blew up when the convoy of governor, Aidaroos al-Zubaidi, passed by in the Inma area of Aden. One soldier was wounded in the attack but Zubaidi was unhurt. SITE cited a brief statement by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on its Telegram channel on Friday saying it had detonated a bomb in a parked vehicle. It said both Zubaidi and Aden police chief, Shallal Shayei, were in the vehicle, but gave no further details. A civil war has raged for more than a year in Yemen and insecurity has gripped the port city, the temporary seat of Yemen's embattled government. Zubaidi was appointed governor of Aden after his predecessor was killed in a car bombing on Dec. 6 claimed by Islamic State, AQAP's main rival in Yemen. Attackers have tried several times before to kill him in car bomb blasts. A mostly Gulf Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in March to support the government and fight the Houthi movement, which it accuses of being a proxy for its regional arch-rival Iran. (Writing by Sami Aboudi)