Rockets strike key Yemen airport a day after reopening

Aden's international airport, a vital aid supply artery for war-torn south Yemen, came under rocket fire Thursday, a day after it reopened following nearly four months of fierce fighting.

Katyusha rockets were fired at the facility as a Saudi military plane was delivering 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid, officials said.

Three rockets hit close to the landing strip as the cargo plane, the second to land at Aden since Wednesday, was still on the tarmac, airport security chief Abdullah Qaed told AFP.

Qaed accused Shiite Huthi rebels of attacking the plane, adding that a further volley of seven rockets struck around the airport once the aircraft had taken off again.

"These Katyusha rockets were fired by the Huthis and fighters of Ali Abdullah Saleh," Yemen's former leader, he said.

Most of the rockets struck ground around the airport, causing minimal damage, and two crashed on a nearby road, officials and residents said.

Forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi-led coalition warplanes, pushed the rebels and pro-Saleh troops out of most of Aden last week.

Aden airport was among the first areas to be recaptured by the loyalists, who are benefiting from the support of forces trained and equipped by the coalition.

A Saudi military plane carrying aid touched down Wednesday in what officials said was the start of an airlift aimed at helping the more than 21.1 million Yemenis in need of humanitarian assistance.

Loyalists set up checkpoints on access routes to the airport after the rocket attacks, witnesses and military sources said, while the Arab coalition carried out a string of air raids on rebel positions north of Aden.

Taking advantage of the relative calm, a boat chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and loaded with humanitarian aid docked on Thursday.

Pro-Hadi fighters east of Aden, meanwhile, drove back rebels to Al-Alam region, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the city limits, military sources said, killing at least three insurgents, including a chief, Abu Yahia al-Huthi.
Source: AFP