Local Editor
An explosion killed six guards of the so-called defense minister in the resigned Hadi regime and wounded eight others Wednesday, military officials said, the latest casualties of unmarked landmines that litter the war-torn country.
Mohammed al-Maqdishi, the Hadi-loyalist Defense Minister – emerged unscathed from the blast that struck a car in his convoy in the central province of Marib, where he was surveying his forces on the front line fighting the Houthi Ansarullah revolutionaries in the area.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media.
The landmine was said to have been planted by the Houthis, which months ago controlled the western parts of Marib and left the area sown with buried explosives. The district, along with the mountainous province just north, Jawf, has been a recent flashpoint for deadly combat.
More than 50 fighters on both sides have been killed over the past four days. The Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni resigned regime staged airstrikes in Jawf over the weekend, killing at least 32 civilians, including women and children.
The mine explosion Wednesday followed a spike in tensions on the other side of Yemen, in the isolated easternmost province of al-Mahra. Although it lies hundreds of miles from offensives against the Houthis, al-Mahra has been a frequent focal point for clashes between Saudi coalition forces consolidating control over the strategic border and residents rallying to resist.
This week local people protested seeking to prevent Saudi Arabia from stationing troops at the border crossing with the Gulf state of Oman. The demonstrations swiftly escalated into deadly clashes as Saudi Arabia sent dozens of armored vehicles and soldiers who fired live bullets to disperse protesters.
Five years of devastating Saudi-led war on Yemen has precipitated a humanitarian catastrophe. The conflict has killed over 100,000 people and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
