A suicide bomber unsuccessfully targeted the governor of the Yemeni city of Aden Friday, just hours before U.N.-brokered peace talks were scheduled to re-start in hopes of resurrecting a failed cease-fire agreement.
Governor Aidarous al-Zubaidi and his security chief were traveling by car in the southern port city when a suicide car bomber detonated his parked vehicle. The governor was uninjured and there has been no claim of responsibility.
Zubaidi's predecessor was killed in a car bombing in December that was claimed by the Islamic State militant group.
In Kuwait, peace talks are scheduled to begin Friday between representatives of the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, but it is not clear yet if government officials will follow through on a threatened boycott. They have demanded that the U.N. Security Council follow through on a resolution for withdrawal of militias from all Yemeni cities.
The rebels hope to use the talks to press for a share in power in a new government.
A Saudi-led coalition last year launched a military campaign to push back Houthi rebels who had seized the capital, Sana'a. A cease-fire was arranged in April, but both sides have violated it.
Thousands of people have died in the violence.
