At least eight soldiers were killed and 20 others injured when a booby-trapped car targeted a military patrol in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday, local officials and witnesses told Xinhua.

"According to initial tips, the perpetrator is a young man affiliated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), targeting the military convoy of Yemeni Defense Air Force base in al-Mansoura district while the soldiers were preparing to leave for al-Qaida-seized Abyan province," a provincial security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The suicide car bomb went off and killed at least eight soldiers and wounded more than 20 others, spreading fears among the soldiers and residents," he added.

Another local military official told Xinhua that "heavy gunshots and fire followed the explosion," making it clear that the army forces shot into the air. Local residents said that heavy gunshots could be heard after the a huge explosion rocked the al-Mansoura district near the Defense Air forces base.

The explosion came four days after a bomb set inside a car of a British maritime expert went off in Aden on Wednesday, engulfing the car in flame and killing the British.

The southern port city witnessed a series of bomb attacks and explosions targeting a number of government facilities and military bases as the government officials accused al-Qaida militants of masterminding and carrying out the attacks against the army forces.

The Yemeni government intensified battles against the terrorist group and using warplanes to try to destroy al-Qaida's main hideouts in Abyan neighboring Aden since the group overran Abyan's provincial capital city of Zinjibar.