5 soldiers killed as militants storm security compound in Yemen
SANAA: Masked militants set off a large car bomb outside a security headquarters in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden early Sunday, killing at least five soldiers before storming the compound, officials said. The security officials said the militants placed snipers on the roof and gunned down most of the security forces inside. The officials gave conflicting accounts of what happened next inside the building.
They initially said that the militants had taken an unknown number of people hostage. Later, they said they opened cell gates and released prisoners.
Witnesses said at least four militant snipers could be seen on the roof of the compound. They said Shallal Al-Shayae, the security chief, was not inside the compound at the time of the attack.
In an online statement, the local affiliate of Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they killed 50 soldiers and identified the bomber as Abu Othman Al-Hadrami.
Yemen is embroiled in a war between Iran-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and the internationally recognized government, which is allied with a Saudi-led military coalition. The Yemeni capital and the country’s northern highlands are under the control of the Houthis and their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh ruled Yemen from its unification in 1990 until 2012, when he reluctantly ceded power to his Vice President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Saleh joined ranks with the rebels in 2014. Houthi artillery has killed a large numbers of civilians.
Separately last week, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the cholera epidemic in Yemen appears to have peaked, adding that the group is closing most of its 37 cholera treatment centers in the country.
More than 884,000 suspected cholera cases have been recorded in the country in the past six months, including 2,184 deaths, according to last week’s figures from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The number of cholera cases reported in MSF treatment centers has significantly decreased since the peak of the outbreak. As a result, the medical organization is closing the majority of its cholera treatment centers or reducing their capacity,” MSF said.