A suicide attack in the Yemen's southern port city of Aden has killed five bodyguards of the country's security chief but left him unharmed.

The attack on Sunday was the second targeting Shallal Shayei in the past week and the third since December.

Shayei was travelling with Aidroos al-Zubaidi, Aden's governor, when the bomber attacked their motorcade.

Both escaped without injury, Yemen's security directorate said in a statement.

An attacker dressed in women's clothing targeted the security chief's home with a car bomb on Thursday.

The attack came a day after rival parties started face-to-face peace talks on "key issues" in Kuwait.

The new phase of meetings began after the government and rebel delegations each submitted a framework for a political and security solution to end the 13-month conflict.

The war erupted in March 2015 when Houthi rebels began a rapid advance across southern Yemen from their strongholds in the north, capturing Aden and prompting an Arab coalition bombing campaign.

Rise of armed groups

The Yemeni government, headed by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has since wrested back Aden from the rebels with the coalition's help and is pushing onwards towards the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa.

The chaos and lack of central authority has emboldened existing armed groups such as al-Qaeda and given rise to a local franchise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Both ISIL and al-Qaeda have carried out attacks against Yemeni security forces.