At least 14 people were killed in a series of bombings Monday that targeted troops in Yemen’s southeastern city of Mukalla, which Al-Qaeda was driven out of in April, a security official said.
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25 other people were wounded in the bombings that shook Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramawt, at sunset, Hadramawt’s health chief Riad al-Jalili told AFP.
That was soon followed by a fourth bombing at the entrance of an army camp, he said, adding that in all “17 soldiers as well as a woman and child passing by were killed”.
But IS claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying in a statement that eight of its suicide bombers killed 50 members of Yemen’s security forces, according to US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group.
Yemeni security officials believe there is an overlap between adherents of Al Qaeda and IS, though the two groups are ideological rivals and compete for recruits. Later on, two more bombers detonated their explosives approaching towards soldiers.
The government has been calling for the handover of all the cities in Yemen that are under the control of the rebels, including surrendering its weapons.
Emirati forces from the Saudi-led coalition, which are guarding the city’s port and the airport, have sealed off several main streets.
In recent month, AQAP and IS militants have also claimed several attacks on government and coalition targets in second city Aden, where the government has its base.
Al-Qaeda has been in Yemen since 2009, while the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group have exploited a power vacuum in the conflict to expand their presence in the south and southeast.
An al-Qaida associate had been controlling Mukalla for a year before being thrown out by a Saudi-led military coalition in April.
In March of past year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.
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One of the negotiators, a minister in President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government, said “the return to the talks is meant to save face after reaching a deadlock”.
