Defence minister survives suicide bomb attack

AFP - Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammad Nasser Ahmad Ali escaped an assassination bid by a suicide bomber Tuesday in the southern port city of Aden but 10 of his entourage were wounded, a security official said.

"A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives drove into the minister's motorcade as he was driving out of a tunnel," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He added that the minister survived the attack but 10 people travelling with him were wounded.

The assailant was killed, the official said.

The attack came as Ali was heading to a hotel in Aden where he has been staying on a duty visit to the restive south.

Troops have been engaged in deadly fighting for months with Al-Qaeda linked militants in Abyan province, east of the city.

A witness told AFP that the explosion "was big and flames erupted from the bomb-laden car," adding that he saw wounded soldiers.