Two dead, six injured in suicide attack at Yemen mosque

A suicide bombing near a mosque in southern Yemen killed two people, including the attacker, and injured six, dpa reported according to local media said Sunday.

The assailant, believed to be linked to al-Qaeda, detonated explosives he was carrying amid a group of people gathering near a mosque in the town of Moudaya in the southern province of Abyan late Saturday, said the Defence Ministry.

Nasser Ali Mansour, who led local insurgents in fighting the militant group Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), was killed in the attack, it added.

Shortly afterwards, pro-government insurgents forced a suspicious-looking car to stop, reported the independent website Mareb Press. The car was found to be loaded with arms and explosives, added the report.

The attack came after 17 Yemeni soldiers were killed Saturday when gunmen attacked a government building complex in the southern port city of Aden.

The government, backed by the United States, has since April been pursuing a wide-scale military crackdown on insurgents with suspected links to al-Qaeda, mainly in the south.

President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, who took office in February, has vowed to continue fighting al-Qaeda operatives in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

Separately, security services in Aden released the prominent southern separatist Ali Abdullah al-Hassani late Saturday - four days after his detention, the independent newspaper Akhbar al-Youm reported.

Al-Hassani had been detained on Wednesday following his arrival at Aden airport after seven years of self-imposed exile.