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March 3, 2012
SANAA (Reuters) - Two suicide
bombers drove a car packed with explosives into a Yemeni army base in the
southern province of al-Bayda on Saturday, killing one soldier, the Defence
Ministry said, in an attack for which al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
Another soldier was killed by one
of two blasts aimed at a central security forces building in the southern
coastal town of Mukalla, where a suicide bombing a week ago killed at least 26
people. Authorities said they had made several arrests.
Militants linked to al Qaeda have
exploited political upheaval to strengthen their foothold in Yemen,
particularly in the south which is also home to rising secessionist sentiment.
Yemen's south has been mired in
violence since protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh took hold
early last year, weakening already loose central government control over whole
swathes of the country.
Saturday's attack in al-Bayda,
which targeted barracks of the Republican Guard forces, came just days after
the interior ministry said it had information about an al Qaeda plot to blow up
eight cars in the capital Sanaa and the port city of Aden.
"The explosion
was very loud and took place in Dar al-Nasr, which is a military site of the
Republican Guard," said an opposition website.
"Residents of
the town were frightened by the force of the blast, which was felt more than
two kilometres away and damaged dozens of neighbouring houses and blew their
windows out."
In a text message sent to Reuters,
al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack it said was revenge for crimes
committed by the Republican Guard. There was no way to verify if the text was
from the militants but they have used the method to communicate with media in
the past.
The United States, wary of al
Qaeda entrenchment in Yemen, backed a plan brokered by Yemen's wealthy Gulf
Arab neighbours under which Saleh handed over power to his deputy last month
and secured himself immunity from prosecution.
Saleh's opponents accuse him of
exaggerating -- even encouraging -- the threat of militancy to scare Washington
and Riyadh into backing him as a bulwark against al Qaeda and protecting him
from reprisals after 33 years in power.
The suicide bombing in Mukalla
last week coincided with the swearing in of new President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi and also targeted the Republican Guard, which is commanded by Saleh's son.
Al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing claimed responsibility for that attack as well.
On Friday, gunmen opened fire on a
U.S. security team as it trained Yemeni soldiers in the south.
In the oil-producing Maarib
province east of Sanaa, an oil pipeline already idled by a previous attack was
targeted again late on Friday, the interior ministry said on its website.
An explosion hit the pipeline in
the district of Sirwah and one suspect was arrested, it said.
