Car bombing targets military convoy of Yemen’s Defence Ministry in Marib

Aden (Yemen), Feb 16 (IANS) An explosion caused by a booby-trapped car struck a military convoy of Yemen’s Defence Ministry in the country’s northern oil-rich province of Marib, a military official informed.

“A number of military trucks belonging to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government were bombed by a booby-trapped car while passing through the road in Al-Wadi district in Marib,” Xinhua news agency reported citing the local military source.

The source confirmed that the explosion on Tuesday did not result in human losses, but destroyed the trucks loaded with weapons belonging to the pro-government forces in Marib.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing attack, and the Ministry of Defence of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government has not officially commented on the incident.

The Yemeni Ministry of Defence, which is currently based in Marib, is facing repeated armed attacks by the Houthi rebels who are attempting to capture the whole province that includes key oil and gas fields.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthi militia overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthis forced him into exile.

–IANS

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