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Yemeni forces target Saudi mercenaries with ballistic missile

Monday, 18 January 2016 8:27 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 18 January 2016 8:28 AM ]

Yemenis shout slogans and raise their weapons during a rally against the Saudi aerial campaign, in the capital, Sana’a, on December 17, 2015. © AFP

Yemeni army troopers, backed by fighters from the allied popular committees, have reportedly carried out a missile attack against a hideout of Saudi foreign mercenaries in Yemen’s central province of Ma'rib.

A military source, requesting anonymity, said Yemeni forces launched an OTR-21 Tochka tactical ballistic missile at the al-Bairaq base late on Sunday, killing an unspecified number of Saudi and Emirati soldiers as well as members of Academi, the American security services training company, formerly known as Blackwater, Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported.

The source added that the command center of the Saudi-led forces and several reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

A Yemeni man lies in a hospital bed after he was injured in a Saudi airstrike against Houthi Ansarullah fighters in Ta’izz, Yemen, on December 29, 2015. © AFP

On Sunday, Saudi fighter jets continued their aerial campaign against Yemen, pounding the Rashid industrial complex and a pharmaceutical company in the capital, Sana’a.

There were no immediate reports on the extent of the damage caused and possible casualties.

Furthermore, Saudi warplanes struck several airstrikes against Hamzah military base in the central Yemeni province of Ibb, but no words of fatalities were available.

Yemenis gather around a crater caused by a Saudi airstrike targeting the outskirts of the capital, Sana’a, on December 29, 2015. © AFP

Saudi military aircraft also bombarded the road linking Ma’rib Province to the northern province of al-Jawf, located approximately 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of the capital, on a number of occasions.

Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March. The Saudi military strikes were launched to supposedly undermine the Ansarullah movement and bring fugitive former President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi back to power.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since March. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

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