Yemen air force bus bombing kills 3

SANAA, Yemen – A bomb likely hidden on a bus carrying high-ranking Yemeni air force personnel exploded Sunday in the capital, killing three people in a country fighting an al-Qaida affiliate, officials said.

The explosion in Sanaa came as al-Qaida’s Yemen branch posted a new video message saying killings in Muslim nations only act as a “stimulus” to draw more into fighting as militants.

The bombing wounded 23 people riding in the minibus, including five in critical condition with amputated arms or legs, said Col. Mahdi al-Aidarous, an air force spokesman. Among those wounded are 13 majors, lieutenant-colonels and colonels, the Defense Ministry said.

The colonel said the bus was heading to air force headquarters when the blast went off. He said it most likely originated from inside the vehicle. The official SABA news agency later quoted an air force statement as saying that the explosive was stuck under the bus.

Private TV stations showed images of a damaged bus with blown-out windows and blood-stained doors. Security forces collected evidence at the scene.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Yemen’s government is battling militants linked to al-Qaida who regularly target the country’s military.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, recently posted a video message online delivered by a man identified as Sheik Harith al-Nadhari. In it, al-Nadhari talks about suspected U.S. drone strikes in Yemen and the recent killing of militants in Egypt in an Israeli drone stroke.

“The killings for the sake of God … is a stimulus to us Muslims for jihad for the sake of God,” he said, according to a translation by the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites.

Al-Nadhari slammed America’s actions in Yemen, saying that drone strikes operate outside the law and punish for “mere suspicion.”