Taiz governor survives roadside bomb in Yemen’s Aden

Witnesses say no deaths have been recorded so far but a few people were injured as a result of the blast.

Map of Yemen showing Sanaa and Aden

An attack in Yemen‘s southern city of Aden has apparently targeted the convoy of a Saudi-backed Yemeni official.

Witnesses told the Reuters news agency a roadside bomb hit the convoy of the governor of Taiz province on Tuesday.

Amin Ahmed Mahmoud, who is a member of the internationally recognised government in exile of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, survived the blast.

“The governor was not injured, but some of the escorts were injured and taken to hospital,” an official at the governor’s office told Reuters.

With logistical support from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been waging a war in Yemen since March 2015.

Coalition forces quickly retook the southern city of Aden and smaller coastal towns, but since then neither side has made much progress in the war.

The war effort is ostensibly an attempt to reinstate the internationally recognised government of President Hadi.

In 2014, Hadi and his forces were overrun by Houthi rebels who took over much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. 

Earlier this month, dozens of people – including women and children – were killed in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah in air raids carried out by the Saudi-UAE alliance.

According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed in the three-year war – a death toll that has not been updated in years and is certain to be far higher. 

In June, Saudi and UAE forces carried out 258 air raids on Yemen, nearly one-third of which targeted non-military sites.

The Yemen Data Project listed 24 air raids on residential areas, three on water and electricity sites, three hitting healthcare facilities, and one targeting an IDP camp.

Impoverished Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is now in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance.

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has been pushing the warring parties to restart peace talks. He recently announced plans to invite Yemen’s combatants to Geneva on September 6 to hold the first round of negotiations.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies