ADEN: Separate attacks by Shiite rebels and a jihadist suicide bomber killed at least 27 people in Yemen’s government-held second city Aden yesterday, many of them newly trained police cadets, security and medical sources said.
The attacks were the first to hit the southern port city in more than a year and dealt a heavy blow to the government’s reorganised security forces, which have been trained and equipped by the United Arab Emirates.
The first attack was a suicide car bombing carried out by jihadists on a police station, a security source said.
Ten people, including three officers, were killed and at least 20 others were wounded, according to medics and a security source.
An AFP correspondent saw dozens of troops and police reinforcements helping the wounded outside the entrance to the police station in Aden’s Sheikh Othman district.
“Ten people were killed, and we admitted 16 injured, including two in critical condition in MSF surgical hospital in Aden, following this morning explosion in Sheikh Othman police station,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Twitter.
The second attack was carried out by the Huthi Shiite rebels, who said they launched a drone and a ballistic missile at a training camp west of Aden.
At least 17 policemen were killed and dozens wounded, a medical source told AFP.
The aerial attack hit as senior commanders were overseeing a passing out parade for newly graduated cadets at Al-Jala Camp, 20 kilometres from the centre of Aden.
The missile struck about five metres (yards) from the viewing platform and a senior commander was among the dead, an AFP photographer reported.
Between 30 and 35 people were killed or wounded, most of them new graduates of the so-called Security Belt force.
The power of the blast left a large crater in the ground. Bodies were strewn around.
Aden is controlled by the Yemeni government and its supporters in a Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting the rebels since 2015.
The government established its headquarters the city after the pro-Iran rebels forced it out of the capital Sanaa.
The UAE is a key partner in the coalition, which has enforced an air and sea blockade of rebel-held areas and carried out a controversial bombing campaign that has exacted a heavy civilian death toll.
In recent months, the rebels have hit back with missile and drone attacks targeting neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
On the ground, the front lines have remained largely static, with the rebels still in firm control of the capital and much of the north.
Repeated UN peace efforts, including an accord reached in Sweden in December, have failed to end the fighting.
The conflict has killed and wounded tens of thousands of people and resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
In the face of the deadlock and mounting international condemnation of the civilian toll, the UAE has drawn down its troops in recent weeks, although it has been at pains to stress that it is not preparing to withdraw.
Abu Dhabi said it was moving from a “military-first” strategy to a “peace-first” plan.
“While we will operate differently, our military presence will remain,” UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said in an op-ed published in The Washington Post late last month. – AFP
