There has been an attack on Aden Airport as ministers of the new Yemeni government were flying in to the port city after being sworn in earlier this week.
Security officials said at least 16 people were killed and 60 were wounded in the blast.
Dramatic video footage captured the moment the rockets impacted the airport, short of their suspected target of the plane carrying members of Yemen's cabinet. Loud blasts and gunfire were heard at the airport shortly after the plane arrived, witnesses said.
Mohammed Al-Roubid, deputy head of Aden’s health office, told Associated Press that at least 16 people were killed in the explosion and 60 were wounded, but some estimates put the death toll as high as 25.
According to one Yemeni security official, three Red Cross workers were among the wounded, though it was not clear if they were Yemenis or of other nationalities.
The cabinet members including the Prime Minister, as well as Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Said Al-Jaber, were transferred safely to the city’s presidential palace, witnesses and Saudi media said.
Yemeni PM Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed tweeted: “We and the members of the government in the temporary capital of Aden and everyone is fine. The cowardly terrorist act that targeted Aden airport is part of the war being waged against the Yemeni state and our great people, and it will only make us more resilient to fulfill our duties until the coup is ended, and restore the state. Our prayer to all the victims of this terrorist act,”
“It would have been a disaster if the plane was bombed,” he said, insisting the plane was the target of the attack as it was supposed to land earlier.
Yemen’s Minister of Information, Mohammar Al-Eryani, added: “The cowardly Houthi attack will not deter us from carrying out our national duty.”
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, condemned the explosion as an “unacceptable act of violence.” He said in a tweet that it was “a tragic reminder of the importance of bringing #Yemen urgently back on the path towards peace.”
A local security source said three mortar shells landed on the airport’s hall.
Al-Arabiya news channel later reported that two aircraft, one belonging to the United Nations, diverted their course after the attack.
Led by the Prime Minister, the new government is formed of 24 ministers, representing major political forces in Yemen, including the powerful Southern Transitional Council (STC).
The ministers were returning to Aden after being sworn in last week as part of a reshuffle following a deal with the southern separatists.
Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi announced a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, widely seen as a major step toward closing a dangerous rift between Hadi's government and the STC. The internationally recognized government is at war with with Iran-allied Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen as well as the country’s capital, Sanaa.
source: commonspace.eu with agencies
