Aden: A Yemen health official and witnesses say at least 40 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a missile attack and coordinated suicide bombings in the southern port city of Aden.
The official says the missile struck a military parade underway Thursday in Aden, the temporary seat of the UN-recognised Yemeni government. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The website of the country’s Houthi rebels quoted spokesman Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarea as saying the rebels fired a ballistic missile at forces loyal to the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015. The parade was taking place in Aden’s neighborhood of Breiqa.
The official didn’t give a breakdown for the casualties at the parade but said several commanders were among the casualties.
Abdel Dayem Ahmed, a senior police official told The Associated Press that 11 were killed earlier in the day when an explosives-laden car, a bus and three motorcycles targeted a police station during a morning lineup.
Yemeni officials and witnesses say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in the southern city of Aden, killing at least three policemen. They say the attack took place on Thursday in the city’s Omar al-Mokhtar neighborhood and that at least 20 people were wounded, including three civilians. The bomber drove into the police station’s gates shortly before the morning police lineup at the before the start of the workday.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to reporters and the witnesses declined to identify themselves for fear of reprisals.
Aden is the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which has been at war with the rebel Houthis who control the capital, Sanaa, and most of the country’s north.