An explosion near the entrance to Aden International Airport, Yemen's second warring city and seat of government, left at least six dead and about 20 injured on Saturday, October 30, a security source said. a medical source at Reuters.

An airport official and two security officers told Reuters that a vehicle carrying petroleum products exploded near an airport gate.

The loud explosion was heard throughout the city, shattering the windows of surrounding dwellings.

"Twelve civilians were killed in an explosion near Aden airport," a security official told AFP, without being able to specify the origin of the explosion immediately.

He reported an unknown number of injuries.

At the scene, firefighters were trying to extinguish the fire caused by the explosion and men were removing a body from a destroyed car, an AFP correspondent noted. 

Aden hit several times by terrorist attacks

This is not the first time that the transitional seat of the Yemeni government has been hit by an attack.

On October 10, a car bomb killed six people in Aden.

The attack targeted a convoy of officials including the governor of Aden and a minister, who escaped unharmed.

In December 2020, explosions at Aden airport left 26 people dead, when the plane carrying the government landed and officials began exiting the plane.

Yemen has since 2014 been plunged into a war between pro-government forces and the Houthis, rebels who control much of the north of the country including the capital Sana'a.

The Houthis have the political backing of Iran, while power has been supported militarily since 2015 by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, Yemen's neighbor and Tehran's great rival. 

According to international organizations, tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict and millions have been displaced.

In recent weeks, fighting has intensified around the town of Marib, the last loyalist stronghold in northern Yemen that insurgents seek to capture.

This week, one of the Houthi leaders, Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi claimed that the city was "almost surrounded" by the rebels and that its capture was "only a matter of time".

With AFP and Reuters

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