Dubai (Agencies)
A Yemeni military spokesman reported that 16 members of the Yemeni forces were killed and 18 others were injured in a car bomb attack on a military barracks in the south of the country, which was claimed by the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.
The military spokesman for the Fourth Military Region, Colonel Mohammed Al-Naqeeb, said that the death toll from the attack that targeted a military barracks belonging to the Yemeni forces in Abyan Governorate in southern Yemen amounted to “16 dead and 18 wounded” according to an initial tally.
He said, “A suicide bomber from Al-Qaeda targeted a center of the Third Support and Reinforcement Brigade of the Yemeni forces with a car bomb, while soldiers were gathering for their usual morning missions in a building in the town of Al-Furaidh in the Mudiyah district, to the eastern side of Abyan Governorate.”
According to the source, the attack led to the collapse of the wall of the building where the forces were gathered, and a guard room.
For its part, the Yemeni forces described the bombing as a “cowardly terrorist attack” that targeted its forces with a car bomb in Mudiyah District in Abyan Governorate.
In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Ittihad, it said, “A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber from the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda targeted a military barracks in Mudiyah District in Abyan, killing a number of soldiers and wounding others.”
The statement indicated that Yemeni forces were deployed in the vicinity of the area following the explosion, while the process of transporting the injured to nearby hospitals is still ongoing.
The terrorist attack comes after painful strikes by Yemeni forces against Al-Qaeda elements and other terrorist groups in the south in general and Abyan Governorate in particular, according to the statement.
On August 8, Al-Qaeda terrorists infiltrated and attempted to launch a surprise attack on the advanced positions of the Yemeni forces stationed on the outskirts of Wadi Rafd, located to the eastern side of the mountainous town of Wadi Omran, east of the Mudiyah district, east of the governorate overlooking the Arabian Sea.
Mudiyah is the theatre most exposed to Al-Qaeda attacks, as the organisation has launched a series of attacks over the past months, using infiltration groups, planting explosive devices, snipers, and air strikes with drones.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the operation, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist media and is based in the United States. The group quoted the group as saying, “An attacker detonated a car bomb at the military site.”
According to the latest UN report, Al-Qaeda continues to mobilize its operational and human resources towards the southern governorates, especially Shabwa and Abyan.
Yemeni officials accuse the Houthi group of supporting and feeding Al-Qaeda’s activity with weapons, drones, and thermal missiles, as part of joint coordination between the two groups to carry out complex attacks to destabilize Yemen and the region.
#soldiers #killed #injured #terrorist #attack #southern #Yemen