Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured after an attack on Monday by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a government security forces training camp in Yemen’s Shabwa province, Governor Awad al-Wazir said, as fighting in the impoverished country intensifies.
Video verified by Reuters from Shabwa province showed injured people and bloodied bodies scattered across the ground. Wazir also said that 14 other people remained missing after the Houthi bombardment of the Al-Alam camp.
The Houthis and the internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been trading attacks since the group advanced in September towards territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Local authority sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Houthis had launched three ballistic missiles at security forces during a training exercise.
Shabwa, an energy-rich province in south-central coastal Yemen overlooking the Gulf of Aden, is home to the Balhaf liquefied natural gas facility, Yemen’s largest industrial investment.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on X that the group had targeted the training camp, which he said was run by Saudi forces. The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Government forces this month began a campaign aimed at recapturing areas controlled by the Houthis, recovering ground near the strait, while the group besieges Taiz, the last major urban stronghold of anti-Houthi forces in the southern highland area of Yemen.
