ISIL says it killed Aden governor in car blast: Statement

CAIRO - Reuters

Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi (C) and governor of Aden, Jaafar Mohammed Saad (L), attend Friday prayers in the southern city of Aden, on November 20, 2015. AFP photo

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for an explosion which killed the governor of Yemen's southern Aden province on Dec. 6.

In a statement posted on a messaging service, the group said it detonated an explosives-laden car as Jaafar Mohammed Saad's convoy was passing in a western district of Aden. Residents and security sources earlier said Saad had been attacked by rocket-propelled grenades or a suicide car bomber.   

Saad, a former general in the army of the former southern Yemen before the Marxist state merged with northern Yemen in 1990, was appointed governor in October. 

Hadi returned to Aden from Saudi Arabia last month, nearly eight months after he fled to escape the Houthi advance. He has been trying to shore up security in the city and oversee fighting against the Houthis in the province of Taiz, north of Aden.