ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni police forces managed to foil a suspected al-Qaida suicide bombing against a military base in the troubled southern province of Lahj on Saturday, a government official told Xinhua.
Two al-Qaida assailants who rode on a small pick-up truck suspected to contain explosives tried Saturday noon to attack the Anad military air base located in the restive province of Lahj, but the operation was aborted by police there, the local government official said, requesting anonymity.
"The policemen successfully managed to foil the terrorist operation at a checkpoint near the Anad air base, where hundreds of U.S. marines are inside," he said.
"The al-Qaida bombers were aiming to target the U.S. soldiers, but they did not succeed in conducting their coward operation," he added.
Experts of a bomb disposal unit arrived and defused the explosives-laden car, a security official told Xinhua anonymously.
The Yemeni government troops have launched an intensive military campaign, with the support of the United States and Yemen 's oil-rich neighbor Saudi Arabia, to uproot al-Qaida militants in the southern regions.
The Yemeni security authorities usually accuse militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot of being behind armed attacks against government compounds and intelligence headquarters in the country's turbulent south.
Al-Qaida militants have claimed responsibility for assassinating several army commanders and intelligence officers in the south months after they were driven out of their bastions in cities of Abyan and Shabwa provinces in a U.S.-backed offensive.
Combating al-Qaida militants in the restive south is one of the challenges confronting Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who promised to launch a national dialogue to settle disputes among all political factions and to uproot the Yemeni branch of al- Qaida.
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