Car bomb in Yemen
The site of a car bomb attack targeting the motorcade of the country's defense minister in Sanaa, Yemen, September 11, 2012. Reuters

A day after Yemen confirmed that the top Al-Qaeda operative in Yemen was killed, Yemen's Defense Minister Major General Mohammed Nasser Ahmed has survived a car bombing that may have been an assassination attempt.

The car bomb exploded outside the prime minister's offices in Sanaa, German outlet Deutsche Welle reported. At least 12 other people, including seven bodyguards, were killed in the blast.

A Yemeni security official confirmed to AFP that the defense minister was the target, and that "the explosion was the result of a bomb-laden car."

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Christian Science Monitor pointed out that it "bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda."

On Tuesday, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's replacement as Al-Qaeda's head, confirmed the "martyrdom of the lion of Libya, Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed," using the birth name of Abu Yahya al-Libi, the head of Al-Qaeda's Yemen's operations, Reuters reported.

Al-Qaeda Libya Terrorism Libya