Suicide bomber kills 45 in restive south Yemen

 Yemeni troops on patrol between the provincial capital Zinjibar and the town of Jaar in Abyan province A suicide bombing Yemeni authorities blamed on al-Qaeda killed 45 people in a southern town recently recaptured by the army from the jihadists, local sources told Arbastoday on Sunday.In the east of the country, meanwhile, a suspected US drone strike late on Saturday killed five al-Qaeda militants, a local official said.
The bomber struck on Saturday in Jaar, one of a string of towns in Abyan province that were retaken by government troops in June after being held by al-Qaeda loyalists for more than a year.
\"An al-Qaeda suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt during a mourning ceremony organised by the Popular Resistance Committees,\" a local militia that fought alongside the army in its month-long counter-offensive, said provincial governor Jamal al-Aqal.
According to the sources, the bomber was targeting a pro-government tribal leader called Abdellatif al-Sayed, who led Abyan\'s tribal militias alongside the Yemeni Army during an offensive against  Ansar al-Sharia militants, which the government hailed as a major victory in June.
Al Sayed, was injured and taken to hospital, local officials said. Two of his brothers were also killed in the attack.
An official at the Razi hospital in Jaar said it had received the bodies of 24 of the dead, while medics said 12 people died of their wounds in three hospitals in the main southern city Aden.
Relatives took the bodies of six of the dead directly from the scene of the attack for burial, local official Mohsen bin Jamila told AFP.
The 37 wounded were being treated in hospitals in Jaar and Aden.
\"The victims\' bodies were flying in all directions because the explosion was so powerful,\" a witness said.
The deputy head of the municipal authority in Jaar held the government partially responsible for the attack because of its slowness in deploying police to the town after its recapture by the army.
\"There is no presence of police in Jaar and other towns of Abyan, while Al-Qaeda militants remain underground,\" said Nasser Abdullah Mansari.
On Wednesday, an attack by al-Qaeda militants on a police station in Jaar killed four soldiers and a civilian. Residents have expressed fears that the jihadists could retake the town.
The suspected US drone strike came near the village of Al-Qotn in Hadramout province in the east of Yemen, another region where al-Qaeda has been active.
Earlier on Saturday, a US drone fired at a vehicle carrying people suspected of being al-Qaeda fighters in the eastern province of Hadramout, killing at least three passengers, local said to Arabstoday.
While some locals believe that only three people were riding the vehicle, others say they were six, five were killed and one was severely injured.
\"A drone fired two missiles at an all-terrain vehicle... killing its five occupants, all members of Al-Qaeda,\" a local official said, requesting anonymity.
Security forces sealed off the scene of the strike, witnesses said.
Saturday\'s airstrike is the first recorded in Yemen in more than a month. The last confirmed strike took place on July 3, in Shabwa province, in which two al-Qaeda operatives were killed.
Other recent airstrikes were believed to have been carried out by the US also, but little evidence has emerged to directly link the attacks to the US.
The US is known to have carried out 26 airstrikes against al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen so far this year; one in January, six in March, six more in April, nine in May, two in June, one in July, and at least one this month.
Meanwhile, an unknown number of suspected al-Qaeda operatives were arrested in Abyan also on Saturday, as they Abyan\'s security apparatus believes they were tracking the vehicle of the commander of the southern military region, General Nasser Abdrabbu al-Taheri, security sources told Arabstoday.
The former leader of the southern military region, General Salem al-Qatn was killed on June 18 in Aden, as a suicide bomber exploded himself in front of Qoton\'s house while the latter was going out to board his vehicle.
The impoverished Gulf state is increasingly being used as a front line in their war on al -aeda and its affiliates.
Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) seized several towns in Abyan last year, establishing a foothold there while then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was grappling with mass protests that eventually toppled him.
The United States is the only country that has drones in the region and in recent months has stepped up its strikes on Al-Qaeda targets in the south and east of Yemen.
Washington regards the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as the most effective branch of the global jihadist network.
Al-Qaeda loyalists have carried out a spate of deadly attacks against the Yemeni security forces and their militia allies since President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi came to power earlier this year pledging to crush the militants.
In July, Yemen announced it had placed its security services on high alert to prevent \"terrorist\" attacks after it uncovered a plot to launch assaults against security and military checkpoints.