UAE army death toll from Yemen arms depot blast rises to 46
Xinhua, September 6, 2015 Adjust font size:
ABU DHABI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) - The death toll from a missile attack on United Arab Emirates forces who are fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen rose to 46, UAE daily The National reported.
Lt Saeed Rashed Mubarak Al-Neyadi was the latest fatality caused by the attack, the report said.
On Friday, the UAE said that 45 of its soldiers under a Saudi-led coalition battling the Shiite Houthi group in Yemen were killed in an arms depot blast.
The explosion took place in Marib province of central Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia, when Houthi rocket fire hit a weapons store at a military camp.
The UAE government ordered that a three-day national mourning be observed starting on Saturday, and that all flags in the country fly half-mast.
The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition comprising nine Arab states to support Yemen's "legitimate" government of President Hadi.
The coalition has been airstriking on a daily basis the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group across Yemen since March 26, when Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge.
The coalition said its intervention aims to restore Hadi's authority in the country.
The Shiite armed group seized much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa last September, and ousted Hadi and his government.
The group said it was a revolution against corrupt officials loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United States. Endit