Senior officer survives attack by suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen's Aden

ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Suspected al-Qaida militants carried out an attack against a military vehicle on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to assassinate a high-ranking officer of the Yemeni special security forces, killing at least two soldiers in the southern port city of Aden, a security official told Xinhua.

Colonel Taha al-Subihi, the head of emergency operations department of the special security forces unit in Aden, survived a botched assassination attempt by suspected al-Qaida militants, while two of his bodyguards were killed in the attack in Khor Maksar district, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

"Three unidentified masked men intercepted a military vehicle and opened heavy fire toward it, killing two soldiers," the official said, adding that "the senior officer in the vehicle escaped safely without hurts."

The soldiers were taken to a nearby military hospital where they were pronounced dead shortly afterwards, according to the official.

The port city of Aden, experienced sporadic suicide attacks targeting security and intelligence officials during the past few months as militants of the al-Qaidain in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP), who captured at least three towns in the nearby province of Abyan late in May.