At least 22 people were killed in an airport attack in Yemen just after members of the country’s newly sworn cabinet arrived, the final blow to a country struggling to emerge from a devastating conflict.
The sound of explosions followed by gunfire shook the airport in the city of Aden, causing people to run down the runway, according to news footage of the attack assessed by The Wall Street Journal.
The explosions occurred shortly after ministers from a government backed by Saudi Arabia landed from Riyadh. The government’s information secretary said all cabinet members were safe after the attack. A deputy public works minister was killed in the attack, officials said.
“The cowardly act of terror targeting Aden airport is part of the war being waged against the Yemeni state and our wonderful people, and it will only strengthen our determination to fulfill our duties,” said Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed , the prime minister in the new government. in a tweet.
The Yemeni Interior Ministry, affiliated with the Saudi-backed government, said 22 people were killed in the attack and more than 50 injured. The local branch of Doctors Without Borders, the international medical aid charity, said it was preparing for an event involving “mass victims.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross said one of his employees was killed in the attack, while two others were missing and three were injured.
People fled Wednesday after an explosion at Aden Airport, Yemen.
Photo:
/ Associated Press
The attack further awakened Yemen, a country in the throes of a political and humanitarian crisis after years of war fueled in part by clashing regional powers.
The country is currently split between Iranian-lined Houthi rebels who control the capital, San’a, and a variety of other factions, including the Saudi-backed government. Other Middle Eastern powers also have a hand in the conflict, including the United Arab Emirates, which is an ally of the separatist Southern Transitional Council.
The violence poses a challenge to the new government sworn in on December 26 as part of a power-sharing agreement between Saudi Arabia that aims to fight the struggle between loyalists of the country’s president and southern separatists allied with the United Arab Emirates. to end.
The Saudi and Emirates-backed camps have clashed with each other in recent years, further splintering Yemen into a multiple conflict.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Western officials and analysts said it was likely carried out by the Houthis, who are receiving military support from Iran. The Houthis denied involvement in the attack. The group also launched a precise attack on a military parade in Aden in August 2019, in which a senior Yemeni commander was killed.
Yemen’s foreign minister affiliated with the new government, Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, blamed Houthi rebels.
Western officials did not rule out the possibility that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or disaffected factions in the southern separatist camp could have been responsible.
Different parties to the conflict were also quick to blame each other, with the separatist Southern Transitional Council blaming Qatar and Turkey.
“The real concern going forward is that this attack is dividing the new government rather than uniting it,” said Elana DeLozier, a Yemen expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
A Houthi attack should unite the new government in defense of a common enemy, but if parties in the government cannot reach a unified position on guilt, it will instead arouse suspicion and shred the new government from day one. “, she said.
It was unclear what caused the blast at the airport. Video footage broadcast by Sky News Arabia showed what appeared to be a missile hitting the asphalt.
—Stephen Kalin contributed to this article.
Write to Jared Malsin at [email protected]
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