A car bombing carried out by ISIS in the pro-Saudi Yemeni “temporary capital” of Aden killed the governor along with six of his bodyguards, adding to power struggles in the Saudi-backed “government-in-exile.”
Gov. Jaafar Saad, seen as one of the more liberal members of the pro-Saudi faction, was visiting the Telecommunication Ministry when he was slain by the car bomb. He had often been a target of Islamists because of his secular leanings.
The ISIS attack reveals they are establishing a growing presence of their own in southern Yemen. Previous ISIS attacks in Yemen have been largely in the northern capital of Sanaa, where they’ve been targeting Shi’ites.
Aden already had a significant presence of Islamists from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has been establishing itself in Aden virtually since pro-Saudi forces chased the Houthis out of the area.