IS suicide bombing kills over 60 in Yemen

Aden is the temporary base of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which has been battling Iran-backed rebels as well as jihadists across the country for more than a year. Security officials told the media that the attacker drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a gathering of army recruits at a school in northern Aden early Monday. Although the school was locked as recruits registered inside, the attacker drove in when the gate was opened for a delivery vehicle, officials said. Witnesses said some recruits were buried when a roof collapsed over them following the blast, which also damaged buildings close to the centre. The assault killed at least 60 people and wounded 29 others, said medical sources from the three hospitals where the victims were taken. They could not immediately verify if all those killed were recruits. 

Aden has seen a wave of bombings and shootings targeting officials and security forces. Attacks in the port city are often claimed by jihadists from either Al-Qaeda or IS, who have both taken advantage of the chaos in Yemen to make gains in southern and south-eastern regions. 

Yemeni authorities have trained hundreds of soldiers in Aden over the past two months as part of operations to retake neighbouring southern provinces from jihadists. Earlier this month, Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition entered Abyan’s provincial capital Zinjibar. Troops retook other towns across Abyan but have been met by fierce resistance in the key Al-Qaeda stronghold of Al-Mahfid, security sources said. The militants are still present in areas surrounding the recaptured towns and control large parts of the neighbouring Shabwa province, the sources say.

Five attackers armed with suicide vests, rifles and grenades killed 18 people in the Iraqi oasis town of Ain al-Tamer, southwest of Baghdad, local officials said on Monday. “They were carrying Kalashnikovs, hand grenades. One of them blew himself up and the others were killed by the security forces,” the head of the central Euphrates operations command, Qais Khalaf, said. A member of the local council and a source at the provincial health directorate confirmed the death toll in the attack that took place late on Sunday and said at least 26 people were also wounded.