Saudi-led warplanes pounded al-Qaida training camp in Yemen

The Saudi-led Arab coalition launched three airstrikes on a training camp of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch on Tuesday, leaving dozens killed and injured, a military official told Xinhua.

The airstrikes completely destroyed an al-Qaida training camp in a desert area in the province of Hadramout on Tuesday evening, the official said.

"Dozens of al-Qaida mid-level commanders, new recruits and explosives experts of the terrorist group were bombed while gathering for dinner inside the camp," the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

Local residents told Xinhua that warplanes hovered over the training base and fired several missiles. Huge flames and smokes were seen rising from the bombing site.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch group has yet to make comments.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence in Yemen's southern regions.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians. Endit