Yemeni security forces on Tuesday arrested three suspects involved in deadly blasts the day before. The explosions hit a sports centre in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Monday, killing three people and injuring at least 14 others, security and medical officials said.
The blasts came within around 10 minutes of each other in a residential district of the city, which is to host part of the 20th Gulf Football Championship due to kick off next month.
Hours before the explosions, Al-Qaeda's military chief in Yemen Qassim al-Rimi declared the creation of an "Aden-Abyan Army" to free the country of "crusaders and their apostate agents," in an Internet audio tape. "We are preparing to implement the first steps of the Aden-Abyan Army to defend the nation and its religion... and free this land of crusaders and their apostate agents," the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader stated. "This army is in its early stages," he said, calling for help from jihadists and their supporters in the audio message whose authenticity could not be verified immediately. It was posted on the Al-Malaham site linked to AQAP.
