Aden: The Islamic State (IS) terror group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that targeted government forces in Yemen’s Aden city on Sunday, leaving at least 49 soldiers killed.
An online statement by the IS revealed on Twitter said that “more than 70 apostates were killed in the jihadist attack launched by our martyr against soldiers in Aden”, Xinhua news agency reported.
The statement identified the suicide bomber who carried out the terrorist operation as Abu Hashim Radfani.
One of the group’s suicide bombers detonated his explosives-belt in a crowd of government forces who had gathered to receive their salaries in Aden’s neighbourhood of Khormaksar.
Ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the dead and wounded to hospitals.
The Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group frequently targets military bases in the country.
The assault comes less than two weeks after a similar attack claimed by the Yemen-based affiliate of the IS struck an army base near Aden’s international airport, leaving 50 soldiers dead and 40 injured.
The southern port city of Aden is the headquarters of Yemen’s internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government.
Aden witnessed several assassinations and attacks after Saudi-backed forces drove the Shia Houthi rebels out from the strategic city in 2015.
Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional Al-Qaeda insurgencies in the Middle East.
The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) emerged in January 2009, claiming responsibility for a number of attacks against the country’s army and governmental institutions.
The AQAP and the IS-linked terrorists took advantage of the security vacuum and ongoing civil war to expand their influence and seize more territories in southern Yemen.
–IANS