Suicide blast kills 42 in south Yemen

ADEN - Agence France-Presse

Onlookers gather at the scene of a suicide bombing in the restive southern province of Abyan on August 5, 2012. aFP Photo

A suicide bombing in a south Yemen town recently recaptured by the army from Al-Qaeda forces in June killed 42 people and wounded 37, hospital and local government sources said yesterday.

The bomber struck on Aug. 4 in Jaar, one of a string of towns in Abyan province that were retaken by government troops in June after being held by Al-Qaeda loyalists for more than a year.

“An Al-Qaeda suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt during a mourning ceremony organized by the Popular Resistance Committees,” a local militia that fought alongside the army in its month-long counter-offensive, said provincial governor Jamal al-Aqal.

An official at the Razi hospital in Jaar said it had received the bodies of 24 of the dead, while medics said 12 people died of their wounds in three hospitals in the main southern city Aden. Relatives took the bodies of six of the dead directly from the scene of the attack for burial, local official Mohsen bin Jamila told. The 37 wounded were being treated in hospitals in Jaar and Aden.

The bombing stoked fears the militants could retake Jaar. On Aug. 1, an attack on a police station in the town killed four soldiers and a civilian.