Views: 4
A suicide bomber suspected to be affiliated with Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch killed at least 14 soldiers in the country’s turbulent southern province of Abyan on Friday morning, a security official told Xinhua.
The local security official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the suicide terror attack, which targeted the third brigade forces aligned with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), occurred at approximately 7:00 am local time (0500 GMT) in the Mudiyah district of the Abyan province.
The explosion caused significant casualties, with initial medical reports indicating that at least 14 soldiers lost their lives in the attack. An additional 17 military personnel suffered injuries, some of whom are in critical condition, according to the official.
He said the assailant, driving a vehicle laden with explosives, breached military checkpoints before detonating the car bomb at the headquarters of the AlFaridh school, which currently serves as a temporary base for the forces of the STC in Mudiyah.
The local Yemeni security official said the death toll may rise as medical teams continue to treat the severely wounded soldiers.
The Yemen-based branch of al-Qaeda has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, security officials strongly suspect the group’s involvement, given the nature and target of the bombing.
The attacker “drove a booby-trapped car into a site for the security forces,” in the Mudiyah district, Mohamed Al-Naqib, a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council, said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but militants linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have stepped up attacks on military facilities in Yemen.
Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has used a nine-year conflict between the Iran-aligned Houthi group and a Saudi-backed coalition to bolster its influence in a country that shares a border with Saudi Arabia and sits near major shipping lanes.
The Southern Transitional Council — which is allied with the Saudi coalition and controls large parts of the south which it wants to secede — has stepped up offensives against Al-Qaeda elements in Abyan over the past year.
AQAP has survived years of attempted crackdowns by the US military, the coalition and the Houthis, taking advantage of Yemen’s mayhem, tribal sympathies and the large stretches of empty territory.
The incident marked the latest in a series of violent attacks against the STC forces and pro-government forces in Yemen which has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014.