Qaeda suicide bombing kills 9 Yemen soldiers

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into a Yemeni army checkpoint Friday, killing nine soldiers, said a military source, who blamed Al-Qaeda for the attack.

The attack was mounted near the city of Qoton in southeastern Yemen's vast desert province of Hadramawt, where Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operates.

The source said the dead soldiers were members of the army's First Division, loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Hadi was forced out of the country earlier this year after Shiite Huthi rebels seized the capital and large chunks of Yemen.

Separately, the source said AQAP militants flogged eight people in the Hadramawt provincial capital of Mukalla, a port city of more than 200,000 people that they control.

Charged with offences including adultery and drug and alcohol use, the eight received between 80 and 100 lashes each in a punishment carried out in a public square before hundreds of witnesses.

In March, a Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the Huthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore the authority of Hadi, who has taken refuge in Riyadh.

AQAP, considered by Washington to be the extremist network's most dangerous franchise, announced the death in June of its Yemen commander, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, in a US drone strike.

The group has taken advantage of the chaos gripping Yemen to make territorial gains in the south, including the seizure of Mukalla in April.
Source: AFP