Deadly bombing hits market in Yemen's Mokha
Deadly bombing hits market in Yemen's Mokha
Yemen's usually peaceful city of Mokha has been targeted by militants.
2 min read
Mokha has been mostly peaceful since 2017 [Getty]
Seven Yemeni civilians were - including a photographer for a UAE television channel - and 20 injured following a blast in the usually calm port town of Mokha on Monday night.
A bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked in a market in the government-controlled town, an official in the pro-government forces told AFP.
A bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked in a market in the government-controlled town, an official in the pro-government forces told AFP.
The photographer for Abu Dhabi TV was named as Ziad al-Sharab, the official Saba news agency reported, quoting Information Minister Moammer al-Eryani.
Abu Dhabi TV correspondent Faisal Al-Zabhani was among the wounded, AFP said, with Saba news agency blaming Houthi rebels for the bombing.
Mokha - once the heart of Yemen's coffee industry - has been largely peaceful since UAE and Saudi coalition-backed government forces seized it from the Houthis in July 2017.
Local officials have blamed the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda militants.
Mokha is now a heavily garrisoned town, which lies close to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, a key global shipping route which the UAE has sought to control with the construction of naval and army bases on both sides of the Red Sea.
Yemen's war escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia and the coalition intervened.
Mokha has been used as a key logistics hub for UAE-backed government forces seeking to capture the coastal city of Hodeida from Houthi forces.
Talks between the two sides have not ended the fighting around Yemen's most important port city, despite the efforts of the UN to establish a truce in Hodeida.
Humanitarian organisations have warned that the UAE-led campaign threatens to plunge Yemen into famine, due Hodeida's importance for aid shipments.
The UN says that 80 percent of Yemen's population - 24 million people - are in need of aid and nearly 10 million are just one step away from famin
Yemen's government - led by President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi - was forced to flee the capital Sanaa in 2014 following a Houthi insurgency.
Since then, the conflict has killed at least 10,000 people and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.
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