Rebel missile, suicide attack kill dozens in Yemeni port city
ADEN, Yemen — Yemen’s main southern city of Aden was shaken by double attacks Thursday, as a missile fired by rebels hit a military parade and suicide bombers blasted a police station. At least 51 people were killed in the deadliest day in nearly two years in the de facto capital of the U.S.- and Saudibacked side in Yemen’s civil war.
Most of the dead came from the missile strike, which slammed into a parade of newly graduated fighters belonging to a militia loyal to the United Arab Emirates, known as the Security Belt.
At least 40 people were killed at the base on Aden’s western outskirts, a health official said.
The earlier attack at the police station in the central Omar al-Mokhtar neighborhood of Aden, was believed to have been carried out by Islamic militants.
The Iranian-backed rebel group known as Houthis claimed responsibility for the missile strike in a statement on their website by a military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarea. He said Houthis had fired a medium-range ballistic missile at the parade.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the police station attack.
A car, a bus and three motorcycles laden with explosives detonated in front of the police station during a morning roll call, a senior police official said. Four suicide bombers were involved in the attack, which killed 11 and wounded at least 29, he said.
The explosions tore off part of the building’s facade and blackened nearby structures, littering the street with shattered glass and debris and blasted a deep crater into the asphalt.