Local Editor
At least 150 Saudi-led troops and mercenaries were killed in a ballistic missile attack at a Saudi military headquarters in the western Bab-el-Mandeb area.
Sources said that the Yemeni army and the popular committees launched late on Sunday a Tochka missile on the headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition command in the southwestern province of Taiz.
A top Saudi commander and an Emirati officer were among the casualties, the Riyadh-led alliance announced in a statement.
Saudi Colonel Abdullah al-Sahyan and Emirati officer Sultan al-Kitbi were killed at dawn on Monday "while they were carrying out their duties in supervising operations to liberate Taiz" province in Yemen’s southwest, the official SPA news agency said.
Also among the casualties, were Saudi, Emirati, Morrocan troops, in addition to at least 42 mercenaries hired by the US-based private military contractor, Blackwater, according to Al-Manar TV.
At least 146 burned bodies arrived in Aden and Omran military camp, the sources said, reporting that the Saudi-led forces sent a ship carrying medical supplies to the coast there due to the high number of casualties.
Meanwhile, other sources put the death toll of the attack at 80.
Monday’s strike was the worst reported since more than 60 Saudi and Emirati troops were killed in September when another Tochka rocket hitthe al-Safer air base near Marib in northeastern Yemen.
A seven-day renewable ceasefire is scheduled to come into effect on Monday to coincide with the UN-brockered peace talks. Two previous ceasefire attempts, in May and July, were followed by accusations of breaches by both sides.
Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict, almost half of them civilians. It has also pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
