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Yemen: Dozens Killed in Aden Bombing | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Aden has seen a wave of bombings and shootings targeting officials and security forces-AFP


Aden- At least 70 young recruits were either killed or injured in a terror suicide bombing at a mustering area in front of the gate at Al-Solban camp in Aden, Yemen.

Official data is not conclusive, current military and security data told Asharq Al-Awsat that an estimated 48 cases of death had taken place, and over 30 injured accounted for.

The Yemeni Command of the General Chief of Staff said the attack has killed 48 soldiers and injured 31 others.

A security official told Reuters news agency that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives on Saturday as troops were waiting to collect their salaries at the entrance to the Al-Solban base on the outskirts of Aden.

“The ugly terrorist attack aims to appease the forces of evil, trigger chaos and bloodshed and disrupt public life in liberated areas,” the command said in a statement.

Ultra-hardline group ISIS has repetitively struck government boot camps.

In a statement circulated by supporters on social media, the terror group said a bomber detonated his explosive belt among army soldiers in the city. The attack comes among a series of other attacks that saw the death of over 90 young soldiers.

In August, ISIS responsibility for a suicide bombing in an area for army recruits, killing at least 54 people, one of the worst suicide attacks to strike the country. In May, suicide bombers in Aden killed at least 45 army recruits lined up to enlist.

The conflict pits Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi’s forces against Iran-backed Houthi insurgents and loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In early 2015, shortly after the Houthis stormed the capital, Sanaa, the government capital was temporarily moved to Aden. A regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and internationally supported, intervened in the conflict backing the nationally elected government fought by insurgents.

Two rounds of U.N.-backed peace talks have failed to resolve the raging conflict, in which thousands of Yemenis are believed to have been killed and an estimated 2.5 million forced to flee their homes.