Qaida-made bomb hits Yemeni capital, 1 military officer injured

At least one Yemeni military officer was wounded when a roadside bomb hit a military bus in the capital Sanaa on Monday, an Interior Ministry's official said. The bomb went off when the bus carrying military officers was on its way to the Defense Ministry's headquarters in Tahrir area early in the morning, injuring at least one officer, the official said, adding that the bomb bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida militants. Eyewitnesses said that the explosion smashed the windows of the bus and nearby residential houses. Meanwhile, a military major of the Defense Ministry was gunned down by al-Qaida gunmen on motorbike near Tahrir square in Sanaa on Monday morning, police and witnesses said. The Yemeni government has waged a wide-scale assault on al- Qaida strongholds since last week in the country's southern territories, killing scores of militants as the fierce battles is still going on. On Monday the Defense Ministry said its forces have killed 37 al-Qaida militants in the southeastern province of Shabwa. But al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) denied the ministry's allegations on its website. The Yemen-based AQAP, known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, or Partisans of Islamic Law, emerged in January 2009. It's considered the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.