IS claims car bombing killing 7 in southern Yemen

The Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group have claimed responsibility for a fresh suicide car bombing in Yemen that took place Friday night at a military checkpoint near Yemen's President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's residence.

According to the official spokesman for Aden's local government, the huge blast occurred at Al-Akabah checkpoint in Cirater district of Aden, and has claimed seven lives mostly soldiers and injured several others at the scene.

A local security official told Xinhua that the suicide attacker was attempting to reach Hadi's presidential compound, but the operation foiled at a military checkpoint.

In an official statement posted on social media networks, the IS-Yemen branch claimed the suicide attack claiming that "about 15 soldiers of Hadi's forces were killed including female police officers."

On Thursday, IS-Yemen branch announced its responsibility for a suicide bombing near the outer gate of Hadi's palace and threatened to carry out more violent attacks in Aden.

The port city of Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, has been witnessing a state of chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks resulted in the assassination of Aden's former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the Islamic State.

Security situation in the country has deteriorated since March when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Enditem