ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION).<br/> <br />A suicide bombing claimed by al Qaeda killed at least 26 people outside a presidential palace in southern Yemen on Saturday (February 25), hours after the newly-elected president was sworn in and said the battle against the Islamists was a "national duty".<br/> <br />A car was driven at the gates of the building in the port city of Mukalla, Yemen's fourth-largest city, far from the capital Sanaa where Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn in.<br/> <br />Dozens were injured. The governor of Hadramout province Khalid Saeed al-Dayni said 20 of the dead were soldiers and an investigation was under way to identify the suicide bomber.<br/> <br />Al Qaeda claimed responsibility and said the attack had been carried out by a "Yemeni jihadi", according to text messages sent to Reuters and other media outlets.
