SANA’A – President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi directed the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances of a blast Tuesday in Sana’a aimed at targeting Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed’s convoy. The minister escaped unharmed, but the attack left 12 dead, including seven of the minister's guards, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Interior.

Abdullah Al-Hamdani, a witness, said the incident was “gruesome,” indicating that many bodies were burned and their parts dispersed across the scene. Al-Hamdani said three vehicles were completely charred, including the cultural consultant of the prime minister, Mohammed Abdu Al-Majeed Al-Qubati's, car.

Riyadh Mohammed, an area resident, said he heard the blast at 1 p.m.; ambulances, First Armored Division forces and a forensic team were quick to arrive on the scene.

Mohammed said the house of Mohammed Mufrih, a neighbor, sustained damages because of the explosion’s tremendous strength. The blast caused the windows of the home to break.  Two shops were also badly burned—a pharmacy and a store.

Al-Hamdani said four bodies—affiliated with the minister's guards—were severely burned; a grocery owner was injured along with two people inside the pharmacy.  

This is the fifth time the defense minister has been exposed to—an escaped—an assassination attempt.

Nabeel Al-Sharjabi, a political science professor at Sana'a University, said the defense minister is listed among Al-Qaeda and the former regime’s most wanted persons.

He said the minister has made heroic efforts against Al-Qaeda, in addition to rejecting many of the former regime's decisions. "The minister abides by (President Abdu Rabu Mansour) Hadi's decrees and made courageous decisions at the Defense Ministry," Al-Sharjabi said.

The bombing took place in one of the most secure locations in the capital because of it’s vicinity to many government institutions and to the Russian embassy, Al-Sharjabi said, asserting that it’s not expected that Al-Qaeda—if complicit—could have executed the operation without help.

"Those who launched this attack met security facilitation to enter this place," he said, adding that such operations will carry on unless the army is re-organized.

The reconciliation government, the House of the Representatives, the General People's Congress and many figures and dignitaries condemned the assassination attempt against the defense minister, calling for immediate investigations into this issue.