World News : Yemen defense minister survives suicide attack

ADEN, Yemen (World News) - Yemen's defense minister survived an attack on his convoy on Tuesday, narrowly escaping death for the second time in a month, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a car in the southern city of Aden, officials said.

The blast, which a security official suspected was the work of al Qaeda, wounded seven soldiers in the lead vehicle of the ministerial motorcade. But Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ali, riding in the second car, was unharmed, a local official said.

Having initially thought the blast was set off remotely, investigators found the body of a 19-year-old inside the car which exploded and concluded he was a suicide bomber. A security official said the attack was consistent with al Qaeda's tactics.

Residents in the area saw two cars ablaze and clouds of smoke where the attack took place.

Since popular protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh paralyzed impoverished Yemen earlier this year, Islamist militants suspected of links to al Qaeda have tightened their grip on the south, seizing several towns and targeting troops and security o fficials.

International powers fear growing lawlessness in Yemen could embolden al Qaeda's local wing and imperil shipping routes. Aden lies close to the Bab al-Mandab strait, through which some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.

The defense minister survived when his convoy drove over a land mine on August 30 in the southern province of Abyan, which neighbors Aden. Two of his bodyguards were killed.