Five Yemen soldiers wounded in bomb attack

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ADEN, Yemen, March 18 (Reuters) - Five Yemeni soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack against a government compound in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan on Tuesday, a provincial government source said.

The source said preliminary investigations suggested Islamist militants were behind the attack.

Witnesses said the blast happened early in the morning, before employees arrived to work.

Yemen, which joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, has witnessed a number of militant attacks targeting foreign tourists, oil installations and U.S. and French ships.

Dozens of militants are jailed in Yemen for involvement in bombings of Western targets and clashes with authorities.

The ancestral home of Osama bin Laden is still viewed in the West as a haven for Islamic militants.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashef, writing by Lin Noueihed)