Ekip
25 August 2016•Update: 25 August 2016
By Ali Owaida
MARIB, Yemen
A senior leader of Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah party survived an assassination attempt in eastern Yemen on Thursday.
A bomb exploded as the vehicle of Naser Raqib, the party secretary-general in Marib, was passing in al-Jafra district in Marib, a party source told Anadolu Agency.
Raqib emerged unscathed from the bombing, the source added anonymously due to security concerns.
Two bodyguards, however, were injured in the attack, the source said.
No group has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack.
Two party leaders were killed in two separate attacks in Yemen this month.
Yemen has been ravaged by civil war since late 2014, when Houthi rebels overran capital Sanaa and a number of other provinces, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.
In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.
Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south -- including provisional capital Aden -- but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.
