Roadside bomb kills over dozen Saudi mercenaries in SW Yemen

More than a dozen Saudi-backed militants supporting the resigned Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed when a roadside bomb explosion ripped through their military vehicle in the country’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees detonated a bomb as a vehicle was travelling north of Khalid military camp in the Mawza district, killing 14 Saudi mercenaries.

The source added that Yemeni soldiers and their allies also launched a number of artillery rounds at the gatherings of Saudi-backed militiamen in the same region, leaving scores of them killed and injured.

Meanwhile, Yemeni snipers have shot and killed a Saudi trooper in the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Asir in retaliation to the Riyadh regime’s incessant aerial bombardment campaign against their impoverished and war-ravaged country.

An unnamed Yemeni military official said Yemeni forces fatally shot the Saudi soldier at Sahwa military base.

About 14,000 people have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen in March 2015. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The United Nations says a record 22.2 million people are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

A high-ranking UN aid official recently warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there is a growing risk of famine and cholera there.

SS