Daijiworld Media Network - Aden
Aden, Oct 19: At least 25 soldiers were killed and more than 30 others injured after three missiles struck a government military training base in Yemen's southeastern Shabwa province on Monday, according to a government military official and a local medical source.
The three missiles targeted Al-Alam military base, particularly a training camp within the facility in Jardan district near Ataq, the provincial capital. A local military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, blamed the attack on the Houthi group, Xinhua reported.
Footage circulating on social media showed numerous casualties at the site. The local medical source said the casualty figures were preliminary and could rise.
Emergency and medical teams continued evacuating the injured to hospitals in Shabwa. Some bodies recovered from the camp were badly burned, complicating efforts to establish the final death toll, the source said.
Al-Alam is a large military facility in Jardan district used by forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognised government and supported by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.
The Houthis had not claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident came amid intensified fighting and exchanges of attacks between Houthi fighters and government forces backed by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition across several fronts in Yemen.
On Sunday, fierce fighting erupted near the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait as government forces launched a fresh offensive against Houthi positions in the area, a government military official told Xinhua.
The official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said units from the Giants Brigades and Nation Shield Forces advanced from several directions to capture key Houthi-held positions overlooking approaches to the strait.
Heavy clashes were underway as Houthi fighters resisted the advance from fortified positions and trenches. Extensive minefields had complicated the government forces' push, the official said.
“The fighting is among the fiercest we have seen in the area,” the official said. “The Houthis are heavily entrenched, and our forces are trying to break through their defensive lines.”
The official added that the Houthis had deployed fibre-optic-guided first-person-view kamikaze drones, known as “Shawaz”, against the advancing government troops.