Motorbike bomb kills two suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen

Two suspected al Qaeda militants died in southern Yemen on Friday after a bomb they were carrying on a motorbike detonated prematurely, an official said.       The incident occurred in the Mansoura district of the southern port city of Aden close to the headquarters of the Central Security Service.    

"It blew up as it was getting near the building," the security official told Reuters, adding that he thought the dead men were suicide bombers.    

He said one of the men had been identified, adding that the explosion did not damage the building and that nobody else was hurt in the blast.    

Al Qaeda-linked militants have often used motorbikes for armed attacks on military checkpoints in the past, as well as for some suicide attacks.    

Last April, suspected al Qaeda gunmen on motorbikes attacked a military checkpoint outside Zinjibar, in the flashpoint southern province of Abyan. A passing shepherd was killed in that attack, a child wounded, and two soldiers were hurt, a local official said at the time.    

Friday's incident came a day after authorities beefed up security at foreign missions and government sites in the capital Sanaa over warnings of a possible al Qaeda attack.    

"We have received information concerning plans by al Qaeda to move its operations to Sanaa," a security official told Reuters. "We believe it is preparing to carry out these operations using car bombs any time soon."   

Reuters