Yemen’s President tells army to be on alert after camp attack kills 79

Monday, 20 January 2020 00:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

FILE PHOTO: Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi attends the Arab summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 31 May 2019 - Reuters

ADEN (Reuters): Yemen’s President told the military on Sunday it needed to be on alert and ready for battle after an attack a day earlier by Iran-aligned Houthis on a military training camp in the city of Marib that forces loyal to the president said killed 79 people.

The attack targeted a mosque in the camp as people gathered for prayer, two medical sources said, in the latest assault in the proxy war playing out in Yemen between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The attack “confirms without doubt that the Houthis have no desire for peace”, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said in a statement on Yemen’s state news agency SABA.

The President, who is now in Saudi Arabia, said the military should be on high alert after the assault.

The Houthis, who deny accusations that they are the puppets of Iran and say they are fighting a corrupt system, did not immediately claim responsibility for Saturday’s attack.

The attack killed 79 people and wounded 81, according to a military statement issued on Twitter by forces loyal to the president, citing a higher death toll than previously given. Saudi state television had earlier put the death toll at 60.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to restore Hadi’s government, which the Houthis ousted from power in the capital Sanaa. Hadi’s government is now based in the southern port city of Aden.