Yemeni officials say a car bomb blast in the southern port of Aden has killed a British shipping executive in an attack they blame on al-Qaida.

The officials say the bomb detonated Wednesday inside the man's car as he drove away from a hotel in Aden's Mualla Plaza. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack on the British shipping surveyor.

The British Foreign Office confirmed to VOA that a British citizen was killed in the bombing but did not release the name. It said the victim's family has asked the media to respect its privacy.

Bombings are rare in Aden, a strategic port that is relatively calm compared to neighboring Abyan province, where government forces and their tribal allies are fighting to oust Islamist militants who seized two towns earlier this year.

Elsewhere in Yemen, an opposition coalition is accusing the government of trying to assassinate the leader of a major Islamist opposition party, Islah.

The coalition says suspected pro-government gunmen opened fire on the car of Islah party leader Mohammed Yadoumi in the capital, Sana'a, on Wednesday. It says Yadoumi escaped the attack.

Islah is one of several opposition groups that has been holding near-daily protests demanding an immediate end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year autocratic rule.

Mr. Saleh has refused to step down, insisting that he will lead a transition to a more democratic system of government.

The Yemeni president has been receiving medical treatment in a Saudi hospital since suffering severe burns in a June 3 bombing on his compound in Sana'a.