Houthi missile strike on Yemen camp kills 73 security recruits, local authorities say

Updated 1 hour ago.

Key points

• The government's health ministry, meanwhile, remarked last week that at least 1, 282 residents had been killed in the conflict throughout Yemen since 6 August.
• More than 70 security personnel were killed in a Houthi missile strike on a camp in Yemen's central province of Shabwa on Monday, local authorities say.
• The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, condemned what he called the "criminal attack" and promised a "firm response".
• According to the Houthi-run health ministry in north-western Yemen, a total of 141 individuals had been killed in Saudi strikes over the past seven weeks.
• When the Houthis ousted the administration from the capital, Sanaa, yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014.

In practice, the Saudi-backed Yemeni armed forces remarked the Iran-backed group rolled out three ballistic missiles at al-Alam camp near Ataq city. It was being applied as a training centre for recruits to the security forces and police.

Notably, the head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, condemned what he called the "criminal attack" and promised a "firm response". The Houthis' military spokesman remarked they had targeted "Saudi enemy concentrations". Yemen's devastating civil war has flared up in recent months.

At the start of October, pro-government forces introduced a major offensive that seeks to retake territory in western Yemen that is controlled by the Houthis.

With air backing from a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, they managed to regain control of territory on the Red Sea coast that overlooks the strategically notable Bab al-Mandab Strait. It the Houthis captured in a surprise assault in September.

As well as around the besieged government-controlled city of Taiz, and to the north in Marib and al-Jawf provinces, nevertheless, fierce fighting is continuing there.

In practice, the Houthis have additionally responded to the Saudi air strikes by launching missiles and drones at airports, energy facilities and military bases in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Houthi missile attack on Yemeni presidential palace kills five, minister notes.

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Monday's attack in Shabwa was the deadliest documented since the start of the escalation.

Shabwa province's media office remarked in an official note that ballistic missiles struck the Martyr Ahmed al-Sulaimani Training Centre, where recruits from a number of provinces were undergoing training to be members of the internal security forces.

Meanwhile, a video posted on social media appeared to show a number of bodies scattered throughout the ground at the camp.

Hospitals in the province were overwhelmed and were forced to transfer the most seriously wounded individuals to neighbouring Hadramout and Aden, where the administration is based, Shabwa's deputy governor, Fahad al-Khalifi, informed AFP news agency.

Shabwa's media office initially documented that 53 residents were killed and 200 injured in the attack.

But on Tuesday, it remarked in a new statement that Governor Awad bin al-Wazir had been informed by an investigative committee that the death toll was now 73, with another 14 individuals noted missing.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani remarked the attack constituted a war crime as the internal security forces training centre was not a military target.

He additionally accused the Houthis of "attempting to fabricate a false media victory, boost the morale of its collapsing elements, and cover up the defeats and setbacks it is suffering across various combat axes".

Meanwhile, the Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, remarked in an official note that the missiles targeted a gathering of "Saudi enemy" forces at al-Alam camp. It he stated was run by Saudi officers. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.

In a separate development, Houthi-run media documented that a Saudi air strike on a home in the Sahar district of the Houthi-controlled northern province of Saada on Sunday killed at least 10 residents and injured 23 others, plenty of of them women and children.

Meanwhile, the government's health ministry, meanwhile, remarked last week that at least 1, 282 residents had been killed in the conflict throughout Yemen since 6 August.

In Saudi Arabia, at least 19 individuals have been killed in Houthi attacks targeting the kingdom's airports since the beginning of October.

When the Houthis ousted the administration from the capital, Sanaa, yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014. After the Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to restore the government's rule, the conflict escalated in 2015.

When the Houthis confirmed a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea, a four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July.

As well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom, the Houthis remarked they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory.

For now, houthi missile strike on Yemen camp kills 73 security recruits, local authorities remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.