Aden airport attack carried out by Houthi rebels: Yemen

The Houthi rebel group was behind last month’s deadly attack on Aden airport, Yemen’s government announced on Thursday.

At least 28 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded as explosions rocked the airport on Dec. 30 just as Yemen’s newly formed government arrived from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

“The attack was carried out with three medium-range surface-to-surface missiles that were launched from a distance of more than 100 kilometers [some 61 miles],” Ibrahim Haydan, Yemen’s interior minister, told reporters in Aden.

He said the rockets were directed by a GPS-guided navigation system, stressing that “only the Houthi militia has this system in Yemen through Lebanese and Iranian experts.”

“It was proven with conclusive evidence that the aim of the attack was to kill all government staff and civilians present at the airport,” Haydan said.

The Houthi group is yet to respond to the minister’s claims.

It had earlier denied responsibility for the attack and blamed it on the Saudi-led Arab Coalition in Yemen.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict in Yemen has so far claimed over 233,000 lives.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat