The death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a government military camp in southern Yemen has risen to 60, primarily new recruits, making it the deadliest strike since fighting in the country began escalating three months ago, Yemeni officials said today (20 October).
At least a dozen people were still missing a day after the Iranian-backed rebels hit the al-Alam training camp in the southern province of Shabwa with ballistic missiles, three officials said.
Monday's strike was part of a recent surge in fighting in Yemen, which began when forces from the internationally recognised government and the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, shattering a 2022 ceasefire deal that had largely halted fighting in the country's civil war.
The Houthis have also fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia, which has struggled to counter the attacks, even with far superior US-supplied arms.
The strike on the al-Alam camp hit while recruits were lining up in formation for a training session. Videos from the area circulated online and analysed by The Associated Press showed many motionless bodies lying on the camp's sandy ground.
More than 200 other recruits were also wounded, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
One of the officials, from the local government, said several recruits had suffered serious injuries and were transferred to hospitals in other provinces in life-threatening condition. He said at least 15 of those killed were from a single Yemeni tribe.
In televised comments aired by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite news television, Shabwa Governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir said the dead were new recruits from across Shabwa who were being trained to provide security in the province, not to take part in combat operations.
"These recruits have never before participated in any mobilisation or on any front," he said. "They have no connection to the front lines … they were (part of) a non-offensive security force."
The Shabwa provincial government said in a statement on Monday that the Houthis had fired three ballistic missiles at the camp. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had killed and wounded dozens but providing no further details.
The camp, which was previously used by a militia backed by the United Arab Emirates, is located in the Jardan district, north of the provincial capital of Ataq. It sits on a crucial supply line connecting to the government-controlled province of Marib.
Shabwa and Marib, along with neighbouring Hadramawt province, form what has been dubbed the Yemeni government's "triangle of power", a strategic area where the country's oil and gas production is located.
On Tuesday, authorities in Saudi Arabia issued an attack warning for the capital area in the late morning, followed by the sound of an explosion in northern Riyadh, where King Khalid International Airport is located. The airport has come under repeated Houthi attacks this month, forcing it to suspend operations.
The all-clear was given a short time later, and Saudi Arabia said a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis had been intercepted.
Yemen first plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in an attempt to restore the government to power. The conflict created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and killed more than 150,000 people.