Sanaa: Masked gunmen staged a deadly attack on Friday at a checkpoint in a historic Yemeni city, setting of a car bomb and exchanging gunfire with pro-government troops, security officials said.
A total of 10 people were killed and wounded in the attack in the fortress city of Shibam in Yemen's sprawling Hadramawt province, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The officials did not immediately have a breakdown of the casualties.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the officials blamed al-Qaida, which has captured much of Hadramawt, Yemen's largest province, and the provincial capital of Mukalla. The same checkpoint has been attacked in the past and al-Qaida has claimed those attacks.
Yemen's al-Qaida branch has benefited from the war that has convulsed the country, pitting the Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies against the internationally-backed government forces.
