Hyderabad: At least 20 soldiers were killed and two dozen others wounded after Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile attack on a military camp housing government forces in southern Yemen on Monday (October. 19), two Yemeni military officials said.
The attack targeted the al-Alam military camp in Shabwa province, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
The strike was among the deadliest incidents in a recent escalation of fighting that began months ago amid rising tensions in the wider Iran-US conflict. Renewed clashes between the Houthis and forces loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed government have shattered a ceasefire agreement reached in 2022, which had largely halted fighting in the country’s civil war.
Meanwhile, an airstrike on Sunday (Oct. 18), blamed on Saudi-led forces, killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, in the Houthi-controlled northern province of Saada, according to the rebels’ Health Ministry.
The Houthis said several airstrikes over the weekend had killed or wounded more than 30 people.
Saudi Arabia had not issued an immediate comment on the reported airstrike. (with inputs from Associated Press)