Daesh bomber kills 71 army recruits in Yemen

ADEN: A Daesh terrorist rammed his explosives-laden car into an army recruiting center in Aden on Monday, killing 71 people in the deadliest extremist attack on the Yemeni city in over a year.

The army, supported by a Saudiled coalition, is training young recruits to join its nationwide war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies, as well as extremists.

Aden is the temporary base of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

Security officials said the attacker drove the car bomb into a gathering of recruits at a school in the north of the port city.

The recruits were among 5,000 newly enrolled soldiers being trained to fight the Houthis in the north along the border with Saudi Arabia, military sources said.

Witnesses said some recruits were buried when a roof collapsed after the blast which left a gaping hole on the building’s facade.

Debris was scattered around the complex and nearby buildings were damaged.

The assault killed at least 71 people and wounded 98, medical sources told AFP.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said a Houthi delegation arrived on Monday in Baghdad to discuss the possibility of recognition to the recently-established political council, the ministry said on its website. The delegation — headed by the Houthis’ spokesman, Mohammed Abdelsalam — seeks recognition of the political council formed earlier this month by the Houthis and the General People’s Congress party, the political party of deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh.