Yemeni army officer survives Al Qaeda assassination

A senior Yemeni military officer was seriously injured losing both his legs Sunday following an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda in the capital Sanaa, police said.

Brigadier Abdullah al-Mihdhar of the martial intelligence unit suffered multiple injuries when a sophisticated improvised explosive device planted under his car went off minutes after he left his house, Xinhua reported.

Witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that blast a part of the car was splintered.

The incident happened a week after the Al Qaeda network in Yemen announced that its no. 2 Said al-Shehri was killed in a US drone strike.