ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 Yemeni military personnel were critically injured when a suicide car bomb hit their convoy in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, a military official told Xinhua.
A suicide bomber rammed a car loaded with explosives into a two-car convoy carrying recruits on the main road in the government-controlled Mudiya district of Abyan, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.
Islamist militants linked to the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were behind the attack, according to a local government source near the scene.
"The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who loaded the car with explosives and targeted soldiers heading to their military base in Mudiya district," he said, also on condition of anonymity.
Yemeni sources said security forces backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have launched investigations into the attack and will provide updates later.
Al-Qaida militants are intensifying their drive-by attacks on security checkpoints in the Yemeni southern provinces as UAE-backed government forces increase military operations against their hideouts in the war-plagued Arab country.
Last month, Yemeni government forces and the UAE armed forces operating in the southern province of Aden launched a new anti-terror offensive "to root out al-Qaida militants from their strongholds in neighboring southern province of Abyan."
Thousands of southern recruits joined the campaign after receiving military training and financial support from the UAE forces.
The ongoing anti-terror campaign has dislodged al-Qaida militants from several villages in Abyan, with more than 50 of them arrested and moved to prisons in Aden.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous wing, has been exploiting years of conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa and Abyan provinces.
