15 killed as attack in Yemen's Aden hits Saudi-led troops, hotel housing exiled officials

Smoke rises following an explosion that hit Hotel al-Qasr where Cabinet members and other government officials are staying, in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. Security officials, who work for Yemen's internationally recognized government said three explosions have hit Aden and there are casualties in Tuesday's explosions but they had no specifics or details. (AP Photo/Wael Qubady) 

By AHMED AL-HAJ and JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Rockets slammed into Yemen's port city of Aden on Tuesday, striking a hotel that is home to officials from the country's exiled government and two compounds used by Saudi-led coalition troops, killing at least 15 people, authorities said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Al Qasr Hotel & Resort, though blame immediately fell on the Shiite rebels known as Houthis that the Saudi-led coalition has been targeting since March.

The attack happened early Tuesday morning, with at least one rocket flying over the military walls now surrounding the 239-room hotel and resort along the Arabian Sea, located west of the port city's downtown. It smashed into the hotel's front, sending thick black smoke rising over it for hours as sirens wailed.

Rajeh Badi, a spokesman for Yemen's exiled government, told The Associated Press that attackers fired the rockets from outside the city limits. All government ministers and the prime minister were safe and unhurt, he said, adding that the Cabinet will hold an emergency meeting about the attack.

A message on the official Facebook page of Yemen's vice president, Khaled Bahah, said "two rockets" struck the compound where the Al Qasr Hotel is. He did not offer any other details about the attack.

Members of the Gulf coalition had been securing the luxury hotel. The Yemeni government officials' presence there made it a highly symbolic target for the rebels.

Rockets also struck the palace of Sheikh Fareed Al Awlaqi, which Emirati troops and the Emirati Red Crescent had been using, as well as a coalition military camp in the al-Shab area, the state-owned The National newspaper of Abu Dhabi reported.

The United Arab Emirates' official WAM news agency quoted unnamed "informed sources and witnesses" for the death toll of 15 people killed, blaming Yemen's Houthi rebels and their allies for the deaths.

Houthi officials and their allied media had no immediate comment on the Aden attack.

The general command of the UAE's armed forces said the dead included four Emirati soldiers, though the official Saudi Press Agency said the dead included three Emiratis and one Saudi. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.

WAM said the dead also included local Yemeni fighters taking part in the coalition. The Saudi Press Agency said an investigation was underway into the attack. It identified the armaments used in the assault as Russian-designed Katyusha rockets. Those rockets are part of the Yemeni military stockpile that the Houthis, as well as al-Qaida's local branch in the country, have seized amid the war's chaos.

Yemen has been embroiled in fighting that pits the Shiite rebels known as Houthis and forces loyal to a former president against the Saudi-backed and internationally recognized government as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the rebels and their allies since March.

Aside from forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the Emirates has the most overt presence among coalition forces inside Yemen. The seven-state federation has some 4,000 troops on the ground, a senior Emirati commander said last month, and boasts military hardware including tanks, armored fighting vehicles and attack helicopters.

The Emirates and other members of the coalition see Yemen's second-largest city of Aden as a key foothold in restoring Yemen's exiled government to power as they and their Yemeni allies attempt to push the rebels from the capital, Sanaa.

Hadi visited Aden two weeks ago under tight security, his first visit back to Yemen after nearly six months of exile in Saudi Arabia. That visit came a week after several members of his Cabinet returned to the city.

Anwar Gargash, the Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs, said Tuesday's attack was "the latest proof" that the Houthis and their allies are out to destroy Yemen.