Blast, gunfire at Aden airport after plane carrying new government lands, 5 killed (updated)

PEDEVCO

30/12/2020 11:44

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    By Mohammed Mukhashaf
    ADEN, Dec 30 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed
and dozens more wounded in an attack on Aden airport, shortly
after a plane carrying a newly formed government for Yemen
arrived from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a local security source
told Reuters.
    Loud blasts and gunfire were heard at the airport shortly
after the plane arrived, witnesses said. 
    The cabinet members including Prime Minister Maeen
Abdulmalik, as well as Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Said
al-Jaber, were transferred safely to the city's presidential
palace, the witnesses and Saudi media said.
    A local security source said three mortar shells landed on
the airport's hall.
    The newly formed cabinet unites the government of President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi with southern separatists. The two groups
are the main Yemeni factions in a southern-based, Saudi-backed
alliance, fighting against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that
controls the north.
    Saudi state television Ekhbaria showed destroyed vehicles
and smashed glass. Plumes of white smoke rose from the scene. 
    The southern port city of Aden has been mired in violence
because of a rift between the separatists and Hadi's government.
The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks
independence for south Yemen, declared self rule in Aden earlier
this year, triggering violent clashes and complicating U.N.
efforts to forge a permanent ceasefire in the overall conflict.
    The Saudi-led coalition announced earlier this month the new
power-sharing cabinet that would include the separatists.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2IY1YZ
    The cabinet landed from Riyadh where both parties negotiated
for more than a year with Saudi mediation.

 (Reporting by Yemen staff, addtitional reporting by Raya Jalabi
in Dubai; Writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by Andrew
Heavens)
 ((aziz.elyaakoubi@thomsonreuters.com; +971552994086; Reuters
Messaging: aziz.elyaakoubi.reuters.com@reuters.net))