Explosion Rocks Yemeni Airport Where New Government Just Landed

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Smoke billows behind a plane that brought Yemen’s new government to Aden International Airport Wednesday. Explosions rocked the Yemeni airport shortly after the plane arrived.





Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP via Getty Images



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Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP via Getty Images








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There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed — a holdover from a recent cabinet shakeup — condemned what he called a cowardly terrorist act, saying that he and other members of the government remain in Aden and are unscathed. But local news outlet Aden al-Ghad later reported that at least one junior official was killed and several officials were wounded.

Two Red Cross staff members are among the dead.

«The International Committee of the Red Cross is profoundly saddened that two of our colleagues were among those killed in Aden’s airport explosion, the agency said in a statement. It added that an additional staff member remains unaccounted for.

The Red Cross workers were moving through the airport when the explosion hit, the aid agency said. Three of them were injured, including one person with serious wounds.

Doctors Without Borders says its hospital in Aden has received 17 people who were wounded in the attack, adding that the cases were referred by another local hospital.

This was meant to be a day to mark the success of more than a year of negotiations to end a power struggle between two groups ostensibly on the same side in Yemen’s war.

Saudi Arabia leads an alliance of countries and local factions against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But fractures in that alliance have resulted in fighting between supporters of Yemen’s exiled president and the separatist Southern Transitional Council, which seeks to restore independence to the former South Yemen. The ministers landing at Aden airport from Saudi Arabia are part of a cabinet meant to represent both these groups.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who did not travel with the cabinet, has directed the military to mount a special investigation into the attack, which he said targeted the arrivals terminal of Aden International Airport. Hadi said he spoke to the government entourage to make sure they were safe.

In response to the blast, U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said, «I strongly condemn the attack at Aden airport upon the Cabinet’s arrival and the killing and injury of many innocent civilians. My sincere condolences and solidarity to all who lost loved ones.