Suicide Bomber Kills Yemen Southern Army Commander

A suicide bomber killed on Monday Yemen's southern army commander, General Salem Ali Qoton, in an attack in the port city of Aden, a medical official told Agence France Presse.

"General Qoton was killed and four others were wounded in a suicide attack," near his home in the Mansoura neighborhood of Aden, the medic said.

The medic, who is also a relative of Qoton, said the attacker "handed Qoton a paper, shook his hand and then detonated himself," when the general was walking to his office.

As the chief military commander in south Yemen, Qoton had led a month-long offensive against al-Qaida, forcing the militant group to withdraw from several towns and villages in the restive Abyan and Shabwa provinces which they had controlled since last year.

The Monday morning attack came as al-Qaida fled from their last bastion in the town of Azzan in Shabwa.

Azzan's deputy mayor said on Monday that al-Qaida completely withdrew from the town, the last bastion in Yemen where the militants had full control.

Yaslam Bajanoub said that the jihadists "handed over the city late Sunday night to a committee of tribal mediators."

Since last week, al-Qaida has withdrawn from three other strongholds in Abyan, including the capital Zinjibar, and the towns of Jaar and Shuqra.

On May 12, the Yemeni army began its offensive to recapture territory lost to the militants.

A total of 567 people have died in the campaign -- 429 al-Qaida militants, 78 soldiers, 26 militiamen and 34 civilians -- according to an AFP tally compiled from various sources.