By Agencies

Share Link:

Suspected al-Qaeda fighters have killed at least 14 Yemeni soldiers and security guards, and injured seven others in a grenade that targeted intelligence headquarters in the main southern city of Aden, the defence ministry said.

An official told AFP news agency that Saturday's attack was the work of al-Qaeda elements.

The same official said that masked gunmen "used machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades" in the attack in the Tawahi coastal neighbourhood of Aden. 

Television employees injured

The fighters attacked in two groups, with one targeting the south side of the complex and the other attacking the west side, next to the state television building.

The official said that many of the soldiers were asleep when the fighters hurled hand grenades into their room.

Nine soldiers were wounded, and three television employees, among them two women, were also hurt, he said.

The fighters, however, managed to escape.

Witnesses said they saw two armoured vehicles on fire at the gate of the television offices.

Suspected militants have carried out a series of deadly suicide bombings on high-profile military and security targets since June, attacking a police academy in Sanaa, assassinating the commander of the southern region, and trying to kill the commander of a tribal force allied with the army.

Washington has responded by stepping up its drone strikes in the region..

Last year, a US-backed offensive drove al-Qaeda offshoot Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) from cities they seized in an uprising against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.