Bomb kills at least nine in southern Yemen - security official

At least four other people were injured in the blast in a market selling qat, a mild narcotic leaf popular among Yemenis, in the city of Qa'ataba in the northern part of Dhalea province.

It was not immediately clear who planted the bomb.

Much of the country has been gripped by lawlessness fuelled by a civil war between the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which controls south and eastern Yemen, and the Iran-aligned Houthis who control the north and eastern part of the country.

"The crimes being committed these days indicate that the target is to create chaos and public instability," the provincial governor, Fadhel al-Jaadi, wrote on his Facebook page. He put the number of those killed or wounded at 20.