Aden: Three suicide bombings claimed by Daesh on Friday struck checkpoints of Yemeni loyalist forces in Aden, killing 22 people, including 10 civilians, a security official said.
The bombings were followed by an attempt to attack a nearby large base of the Saudi-led Arab coalition which recently turned its guns on terrorists in southern Yemen.
The attacks came a year after the coalition launched on March 26, 2015 an air campaign against Al Houthi militants in support of internationally backed President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency said in an online report that “Daesh fighters have launched three martyrdom operations and an attack on a base of the coalition in Aden”.
Two bombs went off simultaneously at separate checkpoints in Shaab district, on Aden’s western outskirts, before gunmen launched an attack on the nearby base of the military coalition, an official said.
Apache helicopters belonging to the coalition carried out strikes on positions of gunmen in the surrounding area as the assailants tried to advance toward the base.
A third explosive device planted in an ambulance was detonated at checkpoint near Mansura, in central Aden, the official said.
The Arab coalition waging the year-long bombing campaign against Iran-backed Al Houthi militants only began targeting terrorists for the first time last week in Aden.
Daesh and Al Qaida have exploited the chaos, widening their footholds in the south and carrying out deadly attacks, mostly against forces loyal to Hadi.
A US air strike Tuesday on an Al Qaida training camp in the southeastern province of Hadramout killed more than 70 fighters in a major blow to the terrorist group.
Al Qaida’s branch in Yemen is considered by Washington to be the most dangerous affiliate of the international terror organisation.
The Arab coalition launched its air campaign against Al Houthis in March last year as the Iran-backed militants advanced on Hadi’s refuge in Aden and forced him to flee to Riyadh.
Yemeni forces and resistance fighters have since managed to drive the militants out of Aden and four other southern provinces, thanks to the military support of the coalition.
The United Nations says about 6,300 people have been killed since March last year, with civilians accounting for more than half.
New hopes for a breakthrough in the conflict surfaced on Wednesday when UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad said warring parties had agreed on a ceasefire that would be observed before peace talks start on April 18.
Previous negotiations have failed and several ceasefires were never respected.
