Aden: At least 18 Yemeni soldiers were killed and many injured on Saturday in attack by militants affiliated with al Qaeda on the intelligence service headquarters in Aden.
The country’s defence ministry feared more casualties in the car bombing and grenade attack as the building was largely destroyed.
Witnesses said militants had fired rocket-propelled grenades at the intelligence service’s three-storey building, shattering windows and setting it on fire, Reuters reported.
“The operation seemed to have been well planned,” a local security source said. He said he believed the attackers belonged to al Qaeda.
He said the militants had stopped their vehicle in front of an adjacent five-storey television building, blown up a military vehicle guarding the compound, and then attacked the intelligence service building with automatic fire and rocket propelled grenades before fleeing.
The Defence Ministry said the militants had also detonated a car bomb next to the building, destroying part of it. Security sources put the death toll at 18.
The ministry earlier said all the casualties were members of the intelligence service and the Central Security forces, which guard the nearby television offices.
Ashraf Ali Ahmed, who lives in the area, said a loud explosion had shaken the area, followed by smaller blasts. “The blasts woke up the neighborhood from their sleep,” he said.
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