Yemeni transport minister escapes assassination bid
Yemeni Transport Minister Waed Bathib Saturday escaped an attempted assassination in the southern city of Aden, local media reported.
Unidentified gunmen fired at Bathib's convoy, Mareb Press reported, quoting a Transport Ministry source, but he escaped unhurt, DPA reported.
Bathib is a senior member of the Yemeni Socialist Party, which opposed the rule of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
He represents the party in a national unity government formed in December under a power-sharing deal between the ruling party and the opposition.
He has survived two previous attempts on his life, the report said. The assailants were not apprehended.
Militants linked to al-Qaeda seized areas in southern Yemen last year, taking advantage of the weak federal government and security breakdown following divisions in the military between commanders who supported either Saleh or the opposition.
The current government of President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, who took office in February, has since April been pursuing a massive military crackdown on insurgents with suspected links to al-Qaeda, mainly in the south of the Arabian Peninsula country.
