Five guards were killed at Yemen’s presidential palace and a minister survived an ambush attack Friday, after the government warned al Qaeda would retaliate for an offensive aimed at crushing it.
President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was not at the palace located in the capital Sanaa when suspected al Qaeda gunmen attacked a checkpoint outside the compound manned by guards, killing five of them and capturing others, a security source told the media.
Also on Friday, Yemen’s defence minister, Mohamed Nasser Ahmad, and two senior security officers escaped unharmed when al Qaeda militants ambushed their convoy as they returned from a tour of the south where the army is battling the militants.
