Qatar- 20 Indians killed in Yemen

Date

9/8/2015 11:24:29 PM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

DUBAI: A Saudi-led alliance killed at least 20 Indian nationals in air strikes at a Yemeni port yesterday fishermen said and more foreign troops were reported to be arriving to intensify the campaign against Houthi forces.

Local residents and fishermen said planes from the alliance struck two boats at Al Khokha a small port near Hodeidah. The attack was targeting fuel and arms smugglers in the area controlled by the Houthi rebels Al Jazeera has learnt. According to Houthi activists who posted photos of the aftermath on Twitter the victims were fishermen in two boats.

India’s foreign ministry said it had no information about the reported killing of its nationals but the Indian Express website reported that 20 of its nationals were killed. “We are ascertaining the facts about the reports” Vikas Swarup the spokesman for Ministry of External Affairs was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The alliance has increased air strikes on Sana’a and other parts of the country since Friday when a Houthi missile attack killed at least 60 Saudi Bahraini and UAE soldiers at a military camp east of Sana’a.

Air raids on rebels in Yemen killed at least 31 people yesterday. At least 10 people were killed in Sana’a where warplanes targeted the police academy and the headquarters of the security services.

And at least another 21 were killed in a wave of air strikes in Bayhan a town south of Marea. Overnight strikes also targeted the Sana’a residences of Houthi leaders.

The latest strikes come a day after the government announced that 10000 Yemeni fighters are now ready as part of the “national army being prepared to liberate Sana’a and other provinces”.

Al Jazeera on Monday said that 1000 Qatari soldiers had crossed the Al Wadia border crossing from Saudi Arabia. “A second contingent of Qatari soldiers has entered the Al Wadia border crossing” an Al Jazeera correspondent in southern Saudi Arabia was quoted as saying.

A source close to the Qatari military confirmed the report. “The operation in Sana’a will use extensive bombing air power to support the ground offensive” the source said. Qatari and coalition officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The additional troops mostly from Qatar and Saudi Arabia were deployed to the battleground eastern oil province of Marib where the attack took place the reports said.

Egyptian officials said that an unspecified number of Egyptian troops would arrive in Yemen soon and Saudi-owned Arabiya newspaper quoted sources as saying that 6000 Sudanese troops would soon join the fight inside Yemen. AGENCIES

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