Suicide Bomber in Pickup Kills 7 in Yemen

A suicide bomber driving a pickup truck killed seven people and wounded 18 others on Sunday when his payload detonated at a military camp in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, officials said.

Medics gave the toll, while soldiers told AFP the blast went off as troops prepared to leave the facility for Abyan province, where security forces are engaged in fierce fighting with militants suspected of ties to Al-Qaida.

One soldier said the attack was by a suicide bomber whose pickup truck exploded as two personnel carriers were exiting the facility, with the first military vehicle taking the brunt of the blast.

Another soldier said that troops were preparing to leave for Abyan when the vehicle had come "in front of the gate of the camp, and then there was a huge explosion".

A lieutenant colonel was among those killed, according to one medical official.

Militants belonging to a group called the "Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), which has been linked to Al-Qaida, took over much of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, in May.

Thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in Zinjibar between security forces and the militants.

Ayad al-Shabwani, a leader of the Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was killed during fighting near Zinjibar on Tuesday, a military official said.

At least 12 soldiers have been killed and dozens wounded since in battles around the same area, according to officials.

Yemen's Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said on Thursday that the United States had provided logistical support to the 25th Mechanised Brigade, which was until recently besieged by the militants in Zinjibar.

Sunday's bombing in Aden comes just days after another deadly attack in the city, which has been generally calm despite deadly unrest in other southern provinces.

David Mockett, a British marine surveyor, was killed on Wednesday in a car bombing in the Moalla area of Aden, near where his company has an office.

A Yemeni intelligence officer said that bombing carried "the fingerprints of Al-Qaida."

U.S. commanders have repeatedly expressed concern the jihadists have been taking advantage of a protracted power vacuum in Sanaa to expand their operations.

Since January, protesters have been demanding the ouster of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in hospital in Saudi Arabia since early June for wounds sustained in a blast at his palace.