SANAA, Yemen: A security official says Yemeni warplanes killed at least five Al-Qaeda-linked militants in overnight airstrikes against hideouts in the southern Abyan province.
The official said the attacks late on Monday concentrated on the al-Mahfad area, where militants took refuge after they were driven out from strongholds in the city of Zinjibar and the nearby town of Jaar, both of which the army recaptured from militants two months ago.
In Sanaa, also Monday night, gunmen fired at the car of Yahya al-Arasy, press secretary to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the official added. Al-Arasy escaped unharmed.
The attackers tried to stop him during his drive home in the city's west, but he escaped by accelerating through a hail of bullets, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to regulations.