A Yemen-based al-Qaida wing has denied attacking a polling center in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, a brief statement issued hours after a man was killed in the polling attack Tuesday said."Ansar al-Sharia (partisans of Islamic law) denies attacking the polling center in the neighborhood of Crater earlier today ( Tuesday), and we condemn such bombing attacks,” according to the statement received by Xinhua. The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, has a large presence in Yemen’s southern and eastern restive provinces including Aden, apparently taking advantage of the year-long protests against outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh that has weakened the central government’s control.The attack raised tension ahead of the presidential election scheduled next week, triggering a quick deployment of more security forces around the election committee’s headquarters in Crater, a local security official told Xinhua. The state-run Saba news agency said the failed attack was carried out by 28-year-old Amir al-Yahri from Aden, who was killed when the bomb exploded as he was trying to plant it near the polling center. According to the security official, al-Yahri was a member of the separatist Southern Movement, which stages almost daily protests calling for boycotting the polls.

The Yemeni government has geared up for the election scheduled on Feb. 21, which is part of a UN-backed power transfer deal to ease Saleh out of office and steer the impoverished Arab state back from a possible civil war.

Under the deal, which was signed by Saleh and the opposition in November 2011, the rival political parties nominated Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as the sole presidential candidate for the early election.