AHMED AL-HAJ
Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A gunman opened fire on a bus transporting military hospital staff in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday, killing eight people, including two women, and wounding a dozen others, security officials and witnesses said.

The attack on the bus in the commercial district of Sayla took place early in the day before rush hour. Shaher Mohammed Ali, a worker in the district, said he saw a lone masked gunman open fire on the bus after it slowed down before a ramp. The gunman then fled the scene in a car, Ali said.

Security officials had earlier said more than one gunman was involved in the attack, which they said bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a powerful local militant group that has targeted military and police.

The officials said the bus was carrying 20 nurses, pharmacists, cleaners and other staff working in the military hospital in Aden. Five of the wounded are in serious condition, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

In December, al-Qaida militants attacked a military complex in the capital that housed a military hospital, killing 52 people, including seven foreign nurses and doctors.

The group has also been linked to a number of failed attacks on the United States. Washington, which considers it the most active branch of the terror group, has provided training and assistance to the Yemeni government, including carrying out drone attacks against the group’s operatives.

The Yemeni government has meanwhile stepped up an offensive in recent weeks aimed at driving the militants out of their strongholds in the south.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.