The attack on Wednesday struck a convoy carrying Hamdi Shukri, a commander in the pro-government Giants Brigades, the country’s Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement reported by state media
A bombing targeting a convoy linked to Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has killed five people and injured three others, according to Yemeni authorities.
The attack on Wednesday struck a convoy carrying Hamdi Shukri, a commander in the pro-government Giants Brigades, the country’s Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement reported by state media.
The Saudi-backed council described the bombing as a “desperate attempt” to undermine efforts to stabilise security in Yemen at a time when “tangible progress” was being made with Saudi support.
It said authorities would take “practical and decisive measures” in response to what it called a “treacherous terrorist attack”, including tracking down those responsible and dismantling their support networks, according to the Saba News Agency.
No group was immediately blamed for the attack.
“The Yemeni government calls on all national forces and political actors to unite in the face of chaos, sabotage and terrorism, and to treat this crime as one that affects everyone without exception,” the council said.
“Political differences do not justify silence or hesitation when the state itself is being targeted,” it added.
A security source told AFP that a roadside car bomb in the Ja’awla area north of Aden detonated as Shukri’s convoy passed. Shukri survived the attack, though a medical source said he suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg.
The US embassy in Yemen condemned what it described as an “unprovoked attack on a Yemeni government-affiliated military convoy”.
Yemen has been gripped by civil war since Iran-backed Houthi rebels ousted the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
In recent months, the conflict has also fuelled tensions between Saudi Arabia and the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, amid clashes between the internationally recognised government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE were previously part of a coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen’s war, a conflict that has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Join us on our WhatsApp Platform @KOIKIMEDIA NEWS YOUR PAGE
koikimedia Bringing the World 🌎 Closer to Your Doorstep