Yemeni president sacks security chief in wake of attack

SANAA (AA) - Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi on late Monday sacked Mohamed Said Ben Brik, the head of the country’s National Security Service (NSS).

The move came only hours after a suicide-bomb attack in the southern city of Aden -- which Hadi’s government is currently using as a provisional capital -- killed at least 60 people and left scores injured.

Responsibility for Monday’s attack, which targeted a building housing government troops, was later claimed by the Daesh terrorist group.

According to a government statement issued late Monday night, President Hadi has replaced Ben Brik with Ahmed Abdullah Nasser al-Musabi, a brigadier-general.

Al-Musabi had formerly served as the head of Yemen’s Political Security Service, which is run by the country’s Interior Ministry.

The NSS, by contrast, answers directly to the presidency.

Yemen has been dogged by violence and war since late 2014, when Shia Houthi militiamen overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

The conflict escalated last year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains in Yemen and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.

Earlier this month, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait between government and Houthi negotiators broke down without having achieved any tangible breakthroughs.