Yemeni rebel missile strike kills 45 U.A.E. troops

SANAA, YEMEN— Forty-five troops from the United Arab Emirates were killed in Yemen while taking part in Saudi-led operations against Shiite rebels, the Gulf nation said Friday, in the deadliest day for its military in its 44-year history.

The UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said the troops were killed when a rebel missile struck an ammunition depot.

On his official Twitter feed, he said the “cowardly attack will not deter us.”

Pro-government Yemeni security officials said the missile strike took place in the province of Marib, about 120 kilometres east of the capital Sanaa.

Officials from the media office of the Shiite rebel movement known as the Houthis confirmed they fired a Soviet-era Tochka missile in the area. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The deaths pointed to the increasingly prominent role of the Emirates on the ground in Yemen’s war — both in troops and hardware — though the government has never made clear the full extent of their role or the numbers of troops involved.

The UAE’s news agency, WAM, initially said 22 members of the military were killed Friday but later reported that 23 more had died of their wounds.

It gave no details on their role in the conflict.

In a series of messages on his official Twitter feed, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the powerful crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, praised the troops for their sacrifice and said the UAE would continue to support the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.