28 June 2016•Update: 28 June 2016
By Mubarak Mohamed
HADHRAMAUT, Yemen
At least 48 government troops were killed in multiple suicide bombings claimed by Daesh group in Yemen’s south-eastern city of al-Mukalla on Monday.
Six bombings hit a number of military checkpoints at sunset as soldiers were preparing to break their fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“At least 48 army officers and soldiers were killed and 36 others injured in the attacks,” Major-General Faraj al-Bahsani, the commander of 2nd Military Region, which includes al-Mukalla, said in a statement.
According to al-Bahsani, the bombings targeted an intelligence headquarters and a number of military checkpoints in the city.
The Daesh terrorist group claimed the attacks, saying that 54 Yemeni forces had been killed in the bombings.
In April, Yemeni army forces, backed by Saudi-led coalition warplanes, recaptured al-Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadhramaut province, from al-Qaeda group.
Yemen has suffered violence and chaos since September 2014, when the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran capital Sanaa and several other provinces, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.
In March of last 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.
In recent months, al-Qaeda has exploited the ongoing conflict between the central government and the Shia Houthi group to bolster its influence in the country’s south.
*Anadolu Agency correspondent Mohamed Sabry contributed to this report from Egypt
