Houthi Missile Strike Kills 53 at Yemen Training Camp

A Houthi missile strike on a training camp in Yemen's southern Shabwa province killed more than 50 security personnel and injured more than 200, local authorities said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-backed Yemeni armed forces said three ballistic missiles were launched at al-Alam camp near the city of Ataq. The camp was being used as a training centre for recruits to the security forces and police. BBC

Shabwa province's media office said the missiles hit the Martyr Ahmed al-Sulaimani Training Centre, where recruits from several provinces were training for the internal security forces. It gave a preliminary assessment of 53 killed and more than 200 injured.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, condemned the strike as a "criminal attack" and promised a "firm response". Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the missiles targeted a gathering of "Saudi enemy" forces at al-Alam camp, which he claimed was run by Saudi officers.

Shabwa deputy governor Fahad al-Khalifi said hospitals were overwhelmed by the casualties. He said the most seriously wounded were transferred to Hadramout and Aden, with some in critical condition.

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the attack was a war crime because the internal security forces training centre was not a military target. The competing descriptions of the camp could not be independently verified.

Pro-government forces launched a major offensive at the start of October to retake territory in western Yemen held by the Houthis. With air support from a Saudi-led coalition, they regained Red Sea coast territory overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait that the Houthis had captured in a September assault.

Yemen's government health ministry said last week that at least 1,282 people had been killed in fighting across Yemen since 6 August. The Houthi-run health ministry said 141 people had been killed in Saudi strikes over the past seven weeks, while at least 19 people have been killed in Saudi Arabia in Houthi attacks targeting airports since the beginning of October. Houthi-run media reported a Saudi air strike on a home in Sahar district in Saada province on Sunday killed at least 10 people and injured 23 others.