At least 10 people were killed Wednesday as explosions rocked Yemen’s Aden airport moments after a new unity government flew in, in what officials charged was a “cowardly” attack by Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
“Dozens” more people were wounded, a medical source told AFP, although all government ministers were reported to be unharmed.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the airport building in the southern city as debris lay strewn across the area, with people rushing to tend to the wounded, footage broadcast by Saudi television channel Al-Hadath showed.
“At least two explosions were heard as the cabinet members were leaving the aircraft,” an AFP correspondent at the scene said.Crowds who had gathered on the airport apron waiting to greet the new government fled, terrified.Sporadic gunfire was heard soon after.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the explosions.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government and southern separatists formed a power-sharing cabinet on December 18, forging a joint front against the Huthi rebels who have seized the capital Sanaa and much of the north.