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Yemen's PM, cabinet members return to Aden

Xinhua, January 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Yemen's Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and his cabinet members returned to the temporary capital of Aden on Monday, after months of exile in Saudi Arabia, a government official told Xinhua.

The ministers arrived in Aden to "permanently resume government duties and work from inside country," the local government said on condition of anonymity.

The government priorities would be the security situation in Aden and other neighboring provinces, "as well as establishing well-trained army units with the support of Gulf counties," the government source said.

The port city of Aden has been witnessing a state of chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks following the assassinations of Aden's former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

On Oct. 6, 2015, the prime minister's temporary headquarters in Aden province was attacked in a series of suicide bombings, in which more than 18 people were killed, mostly UAE soldiers. Khaled managed to escape unharmed.

The Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State group has claimed for the car bombings which also hit military installations used by Saudi-led coalition troops, particularly the base of the UAE forces in Aden's district of Buraiga.

The Houthi gunmen seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September 2014, forcing Yemen's internationally recognized President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to flee to Aden and then Riyadh.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition began air strikes against military bases and arms depots of the Shiite Houthi gunmen in March, 2015, and later sent in thousands of ground troops from UAE, Qatar and different nationalities to back pro-Hadi forces.

Bolstered by heavy weaponry and Gulf troops as well as Yemeni fighters trained in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the pro-government fighters have retaken Aden as well as four other southern provinces in July.

However, the Shiite Houthi rebels, supported by army units from the Republican Guard Forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are still holding the capital and several northern provinces. Endit