Reuters, Aden :
Supporters of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Aden’s international airport on Thursday after battles with rival forces that left at least six people dead, a local official and medics said.
Hadi’s troops deployed tanks and armored vehicles in this southern port city against heavily armed special forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen.
The rise to power of the Iran-backed Houthis since September last year has deepened divisions in Yemen’s complex web of political and religious allegiances, split the army and left the country increasingly cut off from the outside world.
The fighting around a special forces base in the Khor Maksar district of Aden spread to residential districts and prompted roads to the nearby airport to be closed.Airport authorities canceled at least one flight after shooting started early in the morning, where members of the so-called Popular Committees, a local militia loyal to Hadi, was in a standoff with the special forces loyal to Saleh.
A local official said the militiamen, backed by regular troops deployed from a nearby army camp that had sided with Hadi, secured control of the airport by midday.
A local security official and medics said four special forces soldiers and two militiamen died in the clashes. There were a number of injuries, but no exact figures were immediately available.
Residents in Crater and al-Ma’asheeq district, which are considered the heart Aden’s commercial district, said Popular Committee fighters had been seen The growing instability in Aden has overshadowed a vigorous campaign of attacks by al Qaeda, long seen by Washington as the main threat to the country, which shares a long border with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.
Supporters of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Aden’s international airport on Thursday after battles with rival forces that left at least six people dead, a local official and medics said.
Hadi’s troops deployed tanks and armored vehicles in this southern port city against heavily armed special forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen.
The rise to power of the Iran-backed Houthis since September last year has deepened divisions in Yemen’s complex web of political and religious allegiances, split the army and left the country increasingly cut off from the outside world.
The fighting around a special forces base in the Khor Maksar district of Aden spread to residential districts and prompted roads to the nearby airport to be closed.Airport authorities canceled at least one flight after shooting started early in the morning, where members of the so-called Popular Committees, a local militia loyal to Hadi, was in a standoff with the special forces loyal to Saleh.
A local official said the militiamen, backed by regular troops deployed from a nearby army camp that had sided with Hadi, secured control of the airport by midday.
A local security official and medics said four special forces soldiers and two militiamen died in the clashes. There were a number of injuries, but no exact figures were immediately available.
Residents in Crater and al-Ma’asheeq district, which are considered the heart Aden’s commercial district, said Popular Committee fighters had been seen The growing instability in Aden has overshadowed a vigorous campaign of attacks by al Qaeda, long seen by Washington as the main threat to the country, which shares a long border with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.
