An explosion killed on Sunday Aden Gov. Gaafar Mohamed Saad and his six bodyguards while they were traveling in Rimbaud in southern Aden in Yemen.
The governor was on his way to his office when the blast killed him and his convoy. Authorities are now investigating the cause of the explosion, reports The New York Times. Saad was a former army general and appointed governor of the province in October.
According to residents and a local official, a suicide bomber smashed his vehicle into Saad's car. There were other people in the vicinity who were also injured, reports Reuters.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, a YouTube video claims it was an attack by the Daesh or Islamic State. The area is a known operation site of Islamist militants after supporters of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Gulf Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, drove four months ago the Shiite Houthi fighters from Aden who were allied with Iran.
Hadi returned to Aden in November after almost eight months of staying in Saudi Arabia after he fled to escape the advancing Houti militants. He tried to boost security in Aden, the second biggest city in Yemen, and supervise government troops that were battling the Houthis in Taiz, a Yemeni province north of Aden.
Before the bomb blast, masked gunmen aboard motorcycles held separated attacks on cars in Aden and killed on Saturday a military intelligence official, Col. Aqeel al-Khodr, and the judge who had sentenced al-Qaida rebels, Mohsen Alwan.