The Qasr hotel has been used a seat of government since a Saudi-led coalition forced Houthi rebels from Aden, Yemen’s second city, local network Al Arabiya TV reports.
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“In at least four of the airstrikes investigated … homes attacked were struck a couple of times, suggesting that they had been the intended targets despite no evidence they were being used for military purposes”, it said.
All Yemeni government officials staying at the hotel – including Prime Minister Khaled Bahah – were unharmed and evacuated, Transport Minister Badr Basalma told CNN.
Witnesses said the hotel is on fire and that there are ambulances at the scene.
The bombings were Islamic State’s first known attacks on the Yemeni administration, which had made the al-Qasr hotel in the northwest of the port city its headquarters since it returned to Yemen last month. The hotel has been housing the fragile, but internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had been forced into exile when Houthi rebels swept through vast areas of the country.
Since March, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of Arab countries battling the Iran-backed rebels who seized the capital Sanaa a year ago before moving south to take more territory. Lebanese Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news network said three members of a family were killed in the aerial assaults on the city of Ma’rib, the provincial capital of the central Yemeni province of Ma’rib.
Those assaults hit the palace of Sheikh Fareed Al Awlaqi, which Emirati troops and the Emirati Red Crescent had been using, as well as a nearby coalition military camp, the state-owned The National newspaper of Abu Dhabi reported.
The Houthis are locked in ground fighting with Yemeni and Gulf forces while also being targeted in a campaign of air strikes.
Groups claiming allegiance to ISIL have already carried out several attacks in Yemen in recent months.
In a coordinated attack, another Islamic State bomber drove an armored vehicle into a local coalition headquarters, the statement said.
He added that the demonstration shows gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates for their efforts to save Yemen from the terrorism being perpetrated by the Houthis and their ally, former president Saleh.
Anwar Gargash, the U.A.E.’s foreign affairs minister, said on his official Twitter account after the attack that the coalition remained committed to defeating the rebels.
But the Saudi-led coalition that is bombing the rebels for six months denied liability for the strike.
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But, at least 15 troops were killed in attacks ISIL claims specifically targeted Saudi, Emirati and Yemeni officers.
