Daesh says it was behind blast that killed Yemen governor

SANAA, Yemen: Yemeni security officials on Sunday said the governor of Aden and six of his bodyguards were killed in a huge explosion that the Daesh group later claimed was its handiwork.
In a statement posted on a messaging service, the Daesh group said it detonated an explosives-laden car as Jaafar Mohammed Saad’s convoy was passing in a western district of Aden. Residents and security sources earlier said Saad had been attacked by rocket-propelled grenades or a suicide car bomber.
Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the explosion.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.
On Saturday, masked gunmen have killed a prominent judge who was known for sentencing Al-Qaeda militants to prison in Aden.
Police said gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Judge Mohsen Alwan’s vehicle in Aden’s Mansoura neighborhood, killing him and three others.
No one immediately claimed the attack, but officials suspect Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch was behind it. Al-Qaeda militants have previously used motorcycles in their assassinations.
Pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition drove Shiite Houthi rebels out of Aden earlier this year. But a local Al-Qaeda affiliate has exploited the chaos of Yemen’s conflict to seize territory in the country’s south and east, and has a growing presence in Aden.