A ballistic missile ripped through a military parade for a Yemeni southern separatist group that’s backed by the United Arab Emirates, killing at least six troops and four children, a spokesman said on Sunday.
Maged al-Shoebi, a spokesman for the group, blamed Houthi rebels for the attack.
The explosion took place while the separatists, known as the Resistance Forces, were finishing a parade for new recruits at a soccer field in the capital of Dhale province, al-Shoebi said.
The group is part of the the Southern Transitional Council or STC, which seeks the return of the independent state that existed in the south until 1990
The STC is allied with the Saudi-led coalition that’s been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But the UAE-backed southerners are currently at odds with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is more closely allied with Saudi Arabia. Cracks in the anti-Houthi bloc have widened over the past several months.
Footage circulated online of Sunday’s attack shows a hole in a stage at the edge of the field, apparently from an explosion, while other footage showed dead bodies on the ground.
At least 21 people, including civilians, were wounded in the blast, al-Shoebi said. He blamed the Houthis for the attack. The rebel group did not immediately comment.
The Houthis have been trying to wrest Dhale province from the southern separatists for years, but without much progress.
Houthis list strike targets in S. Arabia, UAE
The Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday six “sensitive” places in Saudi Arabia and three in the United Arab Emirates are on a list of military targets, suggesting the group remains prepared to fight on despite informal talks about a truce in Yemen’s war.
The priority targets were said to be “vital and sensitive” locations, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria said without giving more details, during a round-up of the group’s activities during 2019 and outlook for 2020.
The Houthis have repeatedly said they have targets in Saudi and the UAE in their sights and have carried out missile and drone strikes on civilian airports and oil infrastructure in Saudi, as well as on the capital Riyadh.
But in September the Houthis said they would stop attacking Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones if their adversaries attacking Yemen did the same. Since then, Riyadh has stepped up informal discussions with the Houthis on a ceasefire.
Saria, in comments carried by the group’s al-Masirah television, also said that any attacks against Yemen and its people would continue to meet an appropriate response from Houthi armed forces.
The UAE is a leading partner in a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government after it was toppled by the Houthis in late 2014. In July the UAE said it was withdrawing its troops from Yemen, but remained a part of the coalition.
The Houthis claimed to have carried out a large Sept 14 attack on Saudi oil giant Aramco, but the United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia blamed the attack on Iran.
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