11 reportedly killed in suicide attack at checkpoint

dimeji akinloye

January 30, 2018 11:43 AM

At least 11 people were reported dead after a suicide car bomb attacked a checkpoint in southeastern Yemen.

At least 11 people were killed on Tuesday in a suicide car bomb attack on a checkpoint in southeastern Yemen run by local forces backed by the

Reuters quoted residents as saying gunmen opened fire on the checkpoint after a suicide bomber drove his booby-trapped car into the checkpoint northeast of Ataq, the capital of the province of Shabwa.

According to Officials , 11 people died in the attack and three were wounded, while residents put the death toll at 12.

The attack came as southern separatists battled Yemeni government forces for control of the interim capital of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government in Aden.

The clashes risked a separate fight by a Saudi-led campaign against Iran-aligned Houthis in northern Yemen.

No one or group has claimed responsibility for the attack as at the time of filing this report.

The attack, however, is identical to previous operations by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates in the area.

The Shabwa Elite Force, which was set up and trained by the United Arab Emirates as part of its fight against Islamist militants, drove AQAP militants out of Ataq in a major military operation in August last year.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the Yemen civil war in 2015 to try to restore Hadi to power after the Houthis advanced on Aden and forced him to flee into exile.

dimeji akinloye