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30 killed in Saudi-led airstrikes and U.S. drone strike in Yemen

Xinhua, June 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Saudi-led military coalition launched airstrikes against the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen's southwestern governorate of Taiz on Tuesday, killing about 20 people, local residents told Xinhua.

Missiles from the Saudi-led warplanes mistakenly hit a local fuel-dealing black market in Rahidah district of Taiz, according to the residents.

They said about 15 Houthi fighters and five civilians were killed in the raid.

In addition, a Yemeni security source said a U.S. drone strike killed 10 al-Qaeda militants in the tribal village of Mahfad in the country's southern governorate of Abyanon on Tuesday morning.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni security troops have beefed up security measures near state facilities and deployed armored vehicles in some government-controlled cities against possible terrorist attacks, the source said.

An official statement released by the Hadhramout-based Second Regional Military Command said at least 45 soldiers were killed in a series of suicide attacks that struck Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramout on Monday evening.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for these terrorists attacks, saying more than 54 security troops were killed.

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

The Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot, known as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

The already fragile security situation in Yemen worsened further in March 2015, when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthis, supported by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the Saudi-backed government troops.

The war has killed more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2 million others, according to UN humanitarian agencies. Endit