3rd LD: Rocket attacks target government headquarters in Yemen's Aden

Several rockets hit the headquarters of Yemen's prime minister and his cabinet in the southern port city of Aden on Tuesday morning, causing massive explosions that rocked the whole city.

"The hotel where Prime Minister Khaled Bahah has been residing along with a number of ministers and elite troops of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was targeted by rocket attacks," a local military official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Bahah, who escaped the rocket attack unharmed, told Xinhua that "we will stay in Aden and our efforts will not be stopped."

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Bahah and all the ministers are safe and have moved to a well-guarded place.

Medical sources said that initial reports indicate that more than 18 people were killed during the attack, most of them soldiers guarding the hotel.

Columns of black smoke could be seen rising from the targeted hotel and heavy armored vehicles and troopers were deployed around the area.

Witnesses said that warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition were heard flying over Aden a few minutes after the blasts took place at the government headquarters.

A security source said that a military base located in Aden's district of Buraiga used by UAE forces was also hit by rockets.

The coalition transferred UAE officers, Yemeni government officials and military experts out of Aden city after the attacks, according to local sources.

In Abu Dhabi, the General Command of the UAE Armed Forces said four Emirati soldiers were killed in the attack. It said 11 soldiers from other Arab countries also died, state news agency WAM reported.

One Saudi soldier was among the dead, Saudi Press Agency said.

An army officer of the pro-government forces said that the rockets were fired by gunmen of the Shiite Houthi group from outside Aden city, particularly from an area located between neighboring provinces of Lahj and Taiz.

Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Prime Minister Bahah and the cabinet returned to Aden last month, after almost six months in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Hadi fled to Aden in late February after about one month of house arrest and declared that the country's second largest city the temporary capital.

The Saudi-led coalition comprising nine countries has carried out military operations, including almost daily airstrikes, against Houthis since late March in Yemen in an effort to restore Hadi's authority.

Pro-Hadi forces have retaken several southern provinces in recent months, but the Houthis still control the northern part of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

Battles continued Monday in the central province of Marib, about 170 km from Sanaa. Local media said 40 soldiers were killed and 137 others wounded during Monday's fighting.

The airstrikes by the coalition and ground battles in Yemen have left about 5,000 people dead, half of them civilians, and more than 1.5 million people displaced, according to United Nations figures. Endit