A suicide bomber from a local affiliate of ISIL has killed at least 50 Yemeni soldiers at a military base in the southern port city of Aden, in another major attack claimed by the group.
Officials said the bomber detonated himself in a crowd of hundreds of soldiers who had lined up to collect their salaries near the entrance of the Solban base along the outskirts of the city. The attacker blew himself up as the troops were waiting to collect their salaries, the government sources added, wounding around 70 others as they lined up to collect salaries at the entrance to the Sawlaban base on the outskirts of the city. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a message posted online. The Yemeni branch of the militant group based in Iraq and Syria has carried out many deadly bombings around troops in the southern port city, which is under the control of the internationally recognized government in exile in Saudi Arabia. However, Aden al-Ghad, a local news website, said the men were not soldiers but young men registering to take part in a government offensive to break the siege of Yemen’s second largest city, Taiz.
Houthi forces were pushed out of Aden and much of Yemen’s south last summer, but the government and coalition troops have struggled to enforce their control as Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants use the security vacuum to carry out attacks. At least 10,000 people have been killed in the 20-month conflict, which has unleashed a humanitarian crisis on the impoverished country.
