INTERNATIONAL

Yemen's Aden airport attack: What you need to know

Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya 31/12/2020 | 10:54 MYT

Yemen's Aden airport attack: What you need to know

Dust rises after explosions hit Aden airport, upon the arrival of the newly-formed Yemeni government in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman

LARGE explosions struck the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday.
The plane that landed there was carrying the newly formed Cabinet arriving from Saudi Arabia.

People run following an explosion at the airport in Aden, Yemen, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. No one on board the government plane was hurt but initial reports said several people at the airport were killed. (AP Photo)

Bystanders stand near the runway of Yemen southern city of Aden’s airport shortly after an explosion hit as a government plane landed, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a Yemenia airlines plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP Photo/Wael Qubady)

At least 26 people were killed and 50 wounded in the blast.
Officials also reported another explosion near the place the Cabinet members were transferred following the airport attack.
Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed tweeted that he and his Cabinet were safe and called the explosions a “cowardly terrorist act”.

An error occurred while retrieving the Tweet. It might have been deleted.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak blamed the Houthis for the attacks. The ministry released statement saying that the rebels fired four ballistic missiles at the airport and launched drone attacks at the palace where the Cabinet's headquarters are.
Rebel Houthis denied responsibility for the attacks.

Bystanders and a soldier stand near a damaged portion of the airport of Yemen’s southern city of Aden’s after an explosion, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP Photo/Majid Saleh)

Glass and debris covers the damaged portion of the airport in Yemen’s southern city of Aden after an explosion, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP Photo)

Among the casualties were three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff members who were killed in the airport attack.

An error occurred while retrieving the Tweet. It might have been deleted.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks as "despicable terrorist acts" in a statement while Jordan’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Deifallah Fayez stressed Jordan's denouncement of this "cowardly terror attack,".
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, have strongly condemned the attack as well.

Blood and debris covers the damaged portion of the airport in Yemen’s southern city of Aden after an explosion, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP Photo)

Yemen has been riddled with conflict that escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states launched a military operation to defeat the Houthis and restore President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's rule.
As of early December, over 230,000 Yemenis have died due to the war, 131, 000 of whom were through indirect causes such as lack of food, health services and infrastructure. Over 3,000 children have been killed, and 1,500 civilian casualties have been reported in the first nine months of this year.

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