Explosion kills three Yemeni schoolchildren

An explosion that a security official blamed on Al-Qaeda killed three Yemeni children in the southeast of the country on Thursday, state media said. An explosive device went off near the courthouse of Al-Qatn in Hadramawt province, "killing three boys on their way home from school," according to official news agency SABA. The victims were aged seven to 12. A local official denounced what he called "a cowardly, criminal terrorist act." "The device was planted by members of Al-Qaeda," a security official told AFP. In Sanaa, meanwhile, the defence ministry said two of Al-Qaeda's "most dangerous members were arrested two days ago" after security forces raided their hideout, without revealing their identities. Al-Qaeda took advantage of the weakness of Yemen's central government in 2011 during mass protests against now ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh to expand its presence in the east and south of the impoverished country. An all-out army offensive launched in May drove Al-Qaeda militants from towns they had occupied in southern Abyan province, but the network maintains a strong presence in the region.