Bomb blast kills military commander in Yemen’s Shabwa

SANAA, Yemen

Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) said Saturday a senior commander was killed in a bomb explosion in the southern Shabwa province.

In a statement, the STC-affiliated Shabwa Defense Forces said Major Salem Al-Jabwani lost his life in the explosion in As-Said district, west of Shabwah.

The statement said a number of his body guards were killed and injured, without giving an exact figure.

According to the statement, another explosive device was defused by STC forces in the province.

There was no claim of responsibility for the blast.

Oil-rich Shabwa province is controlled by STC fighters and allied government forces.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar