A security officer stands next to the wreckage of a car on a street of Aden, the southern port city of Yemen, on March 24, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Security officers stand next to the wreckage of a car on a street of Aden, the southern port city of Yemen, on March 24, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

The wreckage of a car is seen on a street of Aden, the southern port city of Yemen, on March 24, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
A deadly booby trap bomb attack in southern Yemen's Aden killed a high-ranking military commander of the Yemeni army and three bodyguards on Wednesday, a government official told Xinhua.

The booby-trapped vehicle "targeted a motorcade of General Thabit Jawas while he was passing near a security checkpoint in the northern parts of Aden," the local government source said on condition of anonymity.

The four people were killed on the scene amid the powerful explosion, he noted.

Jawas leads the pro-government military forces in the country's southern provinces, particularly in Aden, Lahj, and other neighboring cities, he said.

"The general had launched several military campaigns against the Houthis in the first round of fighting in 2004 in the northern province of Saada," one of which killed Hussein Al-Houthi, former head of the Iran-backed Houthi group, according to the official.

Earlier on Wednesday, witnesses told Xinhua that an exchange of gunfire occurred following the explosion that was heard in various neighborhoods of Aden.

They said that security vehicles and ambulances rushed to the bombing site that was surrounded by soldiers who prevented access to the area.

Local authorities are trying to maintain security and stability in Aden. However, sporadic bombing incidents and drive-by shooting attacks still occur in the strategic Yemeni port city.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.