ADEN: An unidentified warplane attacked the presidential palace in Aden yesterday after rival forces fought the worst clashes in years in Yemen’s second city, an official and residents said, in a sharp escalation of the months-long conflict.
Thirteen people were killed when forces loyal to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi fought their way into Aden’s international airport and wrested an adjacent military base from a renegade officer, Aden Governor Abdulaziz bin Habtoor said.
Both the fighting on the ground and subsequent air attack appeared to be part of a deepening power struggle between Hadi and the Houthi group, which controls the capital Sana’a and is allied with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In a statement, Hadi described the attack on Aden as an attempted coup backed by the previous regime.
In a televised speech, Habtoor accused the Houthis of being behind the air attack on the compound in Al Maasheeq district, where Hadi is based, but said the bomb “had fallen harmlessly into the sea”. “Aden is peaceful and things are back to normal after the rebellion was ended,” he said on Aden television.
Residents said anti-aircraft guns opened fire at the plane, and smoke was seen rising from the area, but it was not immediately clear if Hadi was in the compound. A second approach by a warplane was repelled by anti-aircraft fire, they said.
An aide to Hadi said the president was “safe at a secure location ... There was a raid, but there were no casualties.”
Agencies
