Yemeni army officer survives al-Qaida assassination

A senior Yemeni military officer survived Sunday an assassination attempt in the capital Sanaa, police officials said. Brigadier Abdullah al-Mihdhar, a senior officer at the martial intelligence unit for southern regions under the defense ministry, was seriously injured and lost both of his legs, an official told Xinhua, adding that a "sophisticated improvised explosive device ( IED) planted underneath his car went off minutes after he left his house." Witnesses said that it was a powerful explosion that blast part of the car into shreds. "It was a well-developed IED which al-Qaida can make," another official said, citing an initial security report about the incident. The incident happened a week after the al-Qaida network in Yemen announced that its No. 2 leader Said al-Shehri was killed in a U.S. drone strike.