Gunmen kill Yemeni army colonel and two bodyguards in Aden

The southern port city has witnessed numerous attacks since it was liberated from Houthi rebels by loyalist and coalition forces last July and later made the temporary seat of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi’s government.

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ADEN // Gunmen in a car killed a Yemeni army colonel and two bodyguards in Aden on Saturday morning, in the latest attack on officials in the southern port city.

Badr Al Yafei, commander of the guards at Badr military camp in Aden, was attacked as he was leaving his home in the Khor Maksar district, police spokesman Abdurrahman Al Naqeeb said.

“The armed men fled the area afterwards,” Mr Al Naqeeb said. “The investigations about this assassination and others are ongoing.”

On Friday, the acting chief of the central prison in Aden’s Al Mansoura district was shot dead outside his mother’s home by gunmen driving past in a car, while the police chief of Aden survived two car-bomb attacks last month.

Mr Al Naqeeb said Yemeni security forces with the help of the Saudi-led coalition, especially from the UAE, were working to stop such attacks. Among the security measures introduced is a ban on motorcycles in Aden province, which began to be implemented on Saturday.

“The security forces increased checkpoints in the province and at the entrances to Aden, and large number of troops are spread around the city,” he said.

Aden has witnessed numerous attacks since it was liberated from Houthi rebels by loyalist and coalition forces last July and later made the temporary seat of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi’s government. Several political analysts, including Fadhl Al Rabei, head of the Madar Strategic Studies Centre in Aden, accuse the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of trying to sow chaos in Aden through Al Qaeda sleeper cells. These cells are working with Mr Saleh, analysts say.

The government and rebels are taking part in UN-mediated peace talks in Kuwait that were preceded by the launch of an ongoing ceasefire on April 11. However, the rebels have continued to attack Yemen’s third city of Taez, parts of which have been besieged by the Houthis since last August.

Houthi shelling on Saturday killed a man and injured five people – including a woman and her two children – in the government-held village of Al Maliha’a on the city’s western outskirts, said Fareed Al Homaid, a journalist based in Taez.

Al Homaid said there was also heavy fighting in the area between the rebels and the pro-government Popular Resistance.

“Sporadic clashes in the city have not stopped for a single day, but yesterday night fierce clashes broke out in Al Shaqab area on the western front” which are ongoing, he said.

He said heavy weaponry was used in the fighting, including machine guns.

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