Twin attack targets Aden security forces in Yemen's southern port city

Twin attack targets Aden security forces in Yemen's southern port city
Casualties were reported after a suicide bomber drove his car into a police station in Aden's Sheikh Othman district, while another attack struck police graduates in al-Bureiqa.
2 min read
01 August, 2019
Yemenis military personnel drive through the port city of Aden [AFP/Getty]
Two attacks, including one claimed by the Houthi rebels, targeted security forces in Aden on Thursday morning, though it is unclear whether the twin attacks were coordinated.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in the southern city of Aden, killing at least three policemen, Yemeni officials and witnesses said on Thursday.

The attack took place in the city's Omar al-Mokhtar neighbourhood in the Sheikh Othman district, the officials said, noting 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 start of the workday.

No group has yet claimed the attack, although al-Qaeda militants have staged similar attacks on security forces in Aden.

But in a separate attack on Thursday, the Houthi rebel group said it launched drone and missile attacks on a military parade of fresh graduates in Aden's al-Bureiqa district, where the UAE has largely trained government forces since the start of the conflict.

"Air Force Command and missile force targeted a camp of invaders and mercenaries in Aden, killing and wounded dozens," the rebel group said in a tweet.

"The military parade that was targeted in Aden was preparing to march towards Houthi positions in Dalea and Taiz," Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Sari claimed. 

A witness on the ground told The New Arab that coalition fighter jets began to hover across the city in the aftermath of the attacks.

It is unclear whether the two attacks were coordinated.

Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which has been at war with the rebel Houthis who control the capital, Sanaa, and most of the country's north.

It has been frequently targeted by al-Qaeda militants in suicide attacks that have killed hundreds of security forces and police officers.

Tens of thousands of people have died since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government against Houthi rebels in 2015, according to relief agencies.

A senior UN official appealed on Monday for the international community "not to turn its back" on Yemen and to honour its pledges of aid for the impoverished and war-battered country.


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