IS claims responsibility for suicide attacks in Yemen's Aden

The Islamic State (IS) on Tuesday claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, which killed at least 15 soldiers of the Saudi-led coalition.

In a brief statement posted on Twitter, the IS said it sent four bombers to attack a hotel where Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and his cabinet were living, a gathering of Saudi officers and a military base used by the United Arab Emirates forces in Aden city.

It is the first attack against Yemeni government and Arab coalition by the IS, which has launched a series of suicide attacks against the coalition's arch foe, the Shiite Houthi group. A military source said earlier that it was rocket attacks by the Houthis.

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.

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.

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.

Months of civil war created huge power vacuum for the the IS and al-Qaida branch in Yemen which have launched suicide attacks in the capital Sanaa and taken a large swath of territory in the country's southern and eastern regions.

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