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26 Yemeni soldiers die in Houthi missile attack on Sanaa
ADEN: A Houthi missile attack Friday killed 26 members of pro-government forces in a camp east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, hospital officials in the town of Al-Maarib said.The news agency of the internationally recognized government said the attack took place during Friday prayers in Al-Maarib province, eastern Yemen. The death toll is expected to rise, it said. A loyalist military source said the attack targeted the mosque at Kofel camp. Lt. Gen. Ali Mohsen Saleh Al-Ahmar, Yemeni vice president, condemned the “heinous terrorist crime” targeting the mosque. “It reveals the true face of the coup who violated the sanctity of mosques,” the official said in a statement to the Yemen News Agency. “The militia’s coup perpetrated in this incident a double crime. They bombed the mosque and then re-targeted the medics who were trying to provide aid to the victims.” The attack was carried out with Katyusha-type rockets, said an army official in Al-Maarib. A rebel-controlled news agency said the Houthis had carried out the attack. It said the main weapon used was the Zelzal-1 Iranian-made missile and it was followed by artillery fire. “Dozens of bodies of burned soldiers were evacuated from the site,” it said, without mentioning that a mosque had been hit. Pro-government forces have retaken large parts of Al-Maarib province from Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the March 2015 launch of a Saudi-led intervention in favor of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Posted by: badanov 2017-03-18 |
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