Yemen is mired in civil war between the Huthi rebels and a beleaguered internationally recognized government supported by the Saudi-led coalition.
Strikes on Yemen’s largest airbase Sunday killed at least 30 pro-government troops and wounded scores more, medical and loyalist sources said, blaming Iran-backed Huthi rebels for the attack.
The strikes were carried out on Al-Anad airbase, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Yemen’s second city Aden in the south of the conflict-riven country.
The airbase served as the headquarters for US troops overseeing a long-running drone war against Al-Qaeda until they pulled out in March 2015, shortly before the Huthis overran the area.
“More than 30 have been killed and at least 56 were injured” at the military facility in the government-held southern province of Lahij, armed forces spokesman Mohammed al-Naqib said.
He said the Shiite Huthi rebels fired missiles and carried out a drone attack at the base.
Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi expressed condolences for the dead and vowed that the “Huthis will pay heavily for all the crimes they have committed against the people of Yemen,” the state news agency Saba reported.
There was no immediate comment from the rebel side.
Video footage from the scene showed dozens of people gathered in front of Lahij hospital, where one ambulance after another was pulling up to drop off casualties.
An official from the hospital said it was all hands on deck.
“We have called on the entire staff, surgeons, and nurses, to come in,” Mohsen Murshid told AFP.
“We also know that there are still bodies under the rubble.”
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) tweeted that one of its hospitals in Aden received 11 wounded after the attack.
“They were provided with the necessary medical and surgical assistance and they were discharged from the hospital,” MSF said.
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