One Dead in Attack on Police Chief in Yemen's Aden

A civilian was killed and two policemen wounded on Wednesday in a bomb attack targeting a police chief in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, police said.

The bomb exploded as police chief Fawzi Saadi's convoy was passing the city's central district of Khor Maksar, killing a passerby and wounding two members of his escort, according to the police official.

Yemen's mostly lawless south has witnessed a wave of attacks by al-Qaida militants who control parts of the region and have taken advantage of security lapses caused by a year-long uprising that ended president Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule last month.

Aden itself has been relatively unscathed by the violence, but five mortar shells struck an army camp in Khor Maksar on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, security sources said.

Al-Qaida linked militants in Yemen, known as the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), claimed responsibility for the mortar fire, in an SMS message to journalists.

The group has controlled the city of Zinjibar, capital of the southern province of Abyan, since May 2011.

Al-Qaida has launched a wave of attacks in the region since Saleh handed power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, on February 25, including an assault on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar that left 185 soldiers dead.