Suicide bombers die in blast at Yemeni intelligence agency

April 6, 2012

Two suspected Al-Qaeda suicide bombers died in Yemen when their payload exploded short of their intended target on Friday, April 6 the defense ministry said as it reported a government offensive killed over 100 militants in two days, AFP reported.

The ministry said on its news website 26sep.net that the bomb detonated before the bombers could reach the branch of the government intelligence agency in the main southern city of Aden.

Witnesses said one of the two men was a civilian, and a security official told AFP that the bomb went off outside the entrance gate to the building.

"Two suicide bombers belonging to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network were killed when their motorbike exploded... early Friday in Mansura" neighborhood, 26sep.net reported.

"The bomb-laden motorbike exploded with the two suicide bombers whose bodies were left in pieces before they managed to carry out their suicide attack that targeted a branch of the political security services in Mansura," it quoted a security official as saying. No other casualties were reported.

The ministry said the security services had identified one of the two men as Fawaz al-Subaihi, who lived in the neighborhood, while an investigation was ongoing to identify the second.

A witness in Mansura, who identified Subaihi from his remains, told AFP that the man owned a shop in the area and had "no links to Al-Qaeda." The same witness said that the other man's body was "torn to pieces."

Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, the self-proclaimed Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), has exploited the decline in central government control that accompanied Arab Spring-inspired protests that eventually forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power.

But suicide attacks targeting security forces have intensified since his successor, Abdrabuh Mandur Hadi, took office in February and vowed to continue the U.S.-backed fight against Al-Qaeda.