Daijiworld Media Network - Aden
Aden (Yemen), Oct 20: The death toll from a Houthi missile attack on a military base in Yemen’s southeastern oil-rich province of Shabwa on Monday has risen to 53, with more than 200 others injured, the local government said in a statement.
The government said several ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis struck the Ahmed Al-Sulaimani Training Centre inside Al-Alam military base in Jardan district, near Ataq, the provincial capital. Newly recruited internal security personnel were undergoing training at the facility when the attack occurred.
The casualty figures remained preliminary, the government said, adding that the injured were being treated at government and private hospitals across Shabwa. Critically injured patients would be transferred to specialised medical facilities whenever necessary, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The latest toll marked a sharp increase from an earlier count provided to Xinhua by a local medical source, who said at least 25 soldiers had been killed and more than 30 wounded after three missiles struck the base.
Emergency teams continued evacuating casualties from the site, while hospitals mobilised to receive and treat the injured.
The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, citing a military source within the group, reported that Houthi forces had targeted gatherings of what it described as “Saudi-backed forces” at Al-Alam military base.
The group also renewed its call for “all Yemenis” to leave military camps where it alleged Saudi Arabia was mobilising forces, according to al-Masirah.
Meanwhile, the Shabwa authorities appealed to Yemen’s government and the Saudi-led coalition to provide the province with air defence, surveillance and early-warning systems.
Al-Alam is a large military facility in Jardan district used by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
Monday’s attack came amid intensified fighting and exchanges of attacks between Houthi rebels and government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition across several fronts.
Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.