Over 20 killed in attack on new Yemeni government in Aden

By Khaled Abdullah

Sana’a, Dec 30 (efe-epa).- At least 22 people were killed and 50 others injured on Wednesday when three explosions rocked the airport of the southern Yemeni city of Aden upon the arrival of members of the new government.

The internationally-recognized government blamed the attack on the Houthi rebels, with whom it has been involved in a violent armed conflict since 2014, but the Shiite militia expressed its solidarity with the victims.

Two blasts targeted the main terminal and a third hit the airport entrance as the plane transporting ministers of the new cabinet, in which the southern separatists participate, landed coming from Riyadh, witnesses told Efe. The ministers were unharmed.

At that moment, many journalists and security personnel were at the airport. Several TV channels caught the attack on camera.

Images showed that the explosions occurred when the ministers were getting off the plane and one piece of footage shows what appears to be a missile hitting the airport and causing one of the explosions.

Columns of black smoke rose from the airport terminal and a large hole in the asphalt caused by one of the explosions.

The Yemeni government is working with the allied Arab coalition “to determine the type of these projectiles and to know the scale of the damage caused by the impact,” the Yemeni interior ministry said on its website.

“The death toll in the attack on Aden airport rose to 22 and another 50 people were injured, including civilians, airport workers and people who came to receive the legitimate government,” the ministry added.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdul-Malik took to Twitter to condemn  “the cowardly terrorist act” and said it was “part of the war against the Yemeni State and its great people.”