An attack on an airport in Yemen killed at least 22 people moments after the arrival of members of the country’s newly installed cabinet, the latest blow to a country struggling to emerge from a devastating conflict.
The sound of explosions followed by gunshots shook the airport in the city of Aden, causing people to run down the runway, according to images of the attack analyzed by The Wall Street Journal.
The explosions occurred moments after ministers from a Saudi-backed government disembarked from Riyadh. The government’s information minister said all cabinet members were safe after the attack. A deputy minister of public works was killed in the attack, officials said.
“The cowardly terrorist act that targeted Aden airport is part of the war that is being waged against the Yemeni state and our great people, and it will only deepen our determination to fulfill our duties,” said Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed, Prime Minister new government minister in a tweet.
Yemen’s Interior Ministry, affiliated with the Saudi government, said 22 people died in the attack and more than 50 were injured. The local branch of Médecins Sans Frontières, the international health care charity, said it was preparing for a “mass casualty” event.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said one of your employees was killed in the attack, while two others were missing and three were injured.
People fled after an explosion on Wednesday at Aden airport in Yemen.
Photograph:
/ Associated Press
The attack further shook Yemen, a country in the grip of a political and humanitarian crisis after years of war fueled in part by conflict between regional powers.
The country is currently divided between Iran-aligned Houthi rebels who control the capital San’a and a variety of other factions, including the Saudi-backed government. Other Middle Eastern powers also participate in the conflict, including the United Arab Emirates, which is an ally of the breakaway Southern Transitional Council.
The violence represents a challenge for the new government installed on December 26 as part of a power-sharing deal brokered by Saudi Arabia with the aim of ending fighting between supporters of the country’s president and southern separatists who are allies of the Emirates. United Arabs.
Saudi and Emirate-backed camps have clashed in recent years, further dividing Yemen in a multilateral conflict.
No one took responsibility for the attack, but Western officials and analysts said it was probably executed by the Houthis, who receive military support from Iran. The Houthis denied involvement in the attack. The group also launched a precise attack on a military parade in Aden in August 2019, killing a senior Yemeni commander.
Yemen’s foreign minister, affiliated with the new government, Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, blamed the Houthi rebels for the attack.
Western officials have not ruled out the possibility that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or disaffected factions within the southern breakaway camp may have been responsible.
Different parties to the conflict were also quick to blame each other, with the separatist Southern Transitional Council blaming Qatar and Turkey.
“The real concern going forward is that this attack divides the new government instead of uniting it,” said Elana DeLozier, a Yemeni specialist at the Washington Middle East Policy Institute.
“A Houthi attack should unite the new government in defense of a common enemy, but if government parties fail to come up with a united view on guilt, it will raise suspicions and fragment the new government from day one,” she said. .
It was not clear what caused the explosions at the airport. Video footage from Sky News Arabia showed what appeared to be a missile hitting the runway.
—Stephen Kalin contributed to this article.
Write to Jared Malsin at [email protected]
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