ADEN, Yemen — Five people were killed and 16 wounded when Houthi missiles struck al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, officials said, in the first attack on the palace in the current conflict between the Iran-aligned rebels and Saudi Arabia, BBC News and The Guardian reported.
Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told the BBC that Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and other ministers were unhurt when five ballistic missiles hit the complex. Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the dead and wounded included guards and civilian employees. Zindani called the attack “cowardly.”
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group struck “the Saudi enemy’s military operations headquarters in Aden.” Agence France-Presse quoted an unnamed government minister as saying a coalition command centre was hit, with Yemeni and Saudi casualties, according to The Guardian.
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday condemned “escalatory” Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on Riyadh’s airport, where an attack last weekend killed 13 people. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a cruise missile over Medina; the Houthis denied firing it.
At least 1,282 people have been killed and 5,890 injured in fighting in Yemen since Aug. 6, according to the government’s health ministry, and the U.N. says 201,000 more have been displaced amid a surge in suspected cholera cases, the BBC said.
Sources: BBC News, The Guardian
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