Suspected al-Qaida bombing misses Yemen minister  AHMED AL-HAJ
SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Published:  SANAA, Yemen (AP) --
Yemen's defense minister narrowly escaped assassination Tuesday
when a powerful car bomb ripped through his motorcade as it
traveled in the nation's capital, killing at least 13 people in
an attack that bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida.  The bombing came
a day after Yemeni authorities announced the killing of the No.
2 leader of the network's Yemeni branch -- the terror group's
most active -- in an apparent U.S. airstrike.  There was no
immediate claim of responsibility for the midmorning blast in
Sanaa, but al-Qaida's Yemeni branch is believed to be behind at
least five other failed assassination attempts against the
minister, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, who has recently won
national acclaim as a seasoned and popular commander in the
fight against al-Qaida militants.  Hours after the attack,
Yemen's new president fired the chiefs of national security and
military intelligence, as