At least 60 killed in ISIL-claimed suicide bombing in Aden

A further 60 people were injured, a police source told The National, warning that “the death toll may rise because of the severity of the injuries”.

People gather at the scene following an attack by a suicide bomber who drove a car laden with explosives into a school where recruits were waiting to sign up to the army in Aden, Yemen August 29, 2016. REUTERS/Fawaz SalmanShow less

ADEN // At least 60 people were killed when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-packed pickup truck into a school in Aden on Monday where recruits had gathered to join the army.

The ISIL-linked Aamaq news agency said the attack was carried out “by a fighter from the Islamic State who targeted a recruitment centre”.

A further 60 people were injured, a police source in Aden told The National, warning that “the death toll may rise because of the severity of the injuries”.

“The suicide bomber was driving a Hilux truck, which was laden with explosive devices, and entered the yard of Mohida School, in Al Sanafer neighbourhood, where applicants were gathering to register their names,” he said.

The sound of the early morning explosion echoed across the city. At the scene of the blast, part of the school building had collapsed and body parts and blood were spread across the area.

Nearby relatives of the dead gathered, many weeping and in shock as paramedics took more injured away from the scene.

“Bodies were scattered all over the place,” said Mohammed Osman, a neighbour who rushed to the scene. “It was a massacre.”

The police source said the suicide bomber, named Abu Sofian, had managed to drive through the school’s security gate by following another vehicle as it delivered breakfast to the recruits who had gathered in the schoolyard.

Aden is the temporary base of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which has been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels as well as extremists across the country for more than a year.

Militants from both Al Qaeda and ISIL have taken advantage of the chaos to make gains in southern and south-eastern regions.

Yemeni authorities have been training thousands of soldiers in Aden over the past two months as part of operations to retake neighbouring southern provinces from the extremists.

Earlier this month, Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition entered the capital of Abyan province, Zinjibar.

On Saturday, Aden’s governor, Brigadier Aidarous Al Zabidi, told Al Arabia TV channel that Aden was almost free from the terrorist groups, and that government forces were going to hunt them down in Abyan and Lahj provinces.

He blamed the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the Houthi rebels with whom Mr Saleh has made an allegiance, of supporting the extremists groups to create chaos in Aden. He said many Al Qaeda and ISIL militants are being held in Aden’s prisons.

The extremists have carried out similar attacks in the past six months.

Earlier this month, a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a large group of army reinforcements sent from Aden to fight militants in Lahj, killing five soldiers.

On July 20, four policemen were killed in a bombing attack in Aden that was claimed by ISIL.

And in May, the group admitted to twin suicide bombings in Aden that killed at least 41 people. Just a few days earlier, an attack in Mukalla against men applying to join the security forces, killed more than 40. Mukalla was liberated from Al Qaeda in April by Yemeni troops backed by the Arab coalition, which includes the UAE.

The coalition has provided the troops with air cover throughout their war against the extremists.

The United States has also carried out numerous drone strikes against Al Qaeda in operatives in Yemen.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March last year and have helped government forces push the Houthi rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since July last year.

The war in Yemen has also affected security in Saudi Arabia, where shelling from the kingdom’s impoverished neighbour killed three Saudi children and wounded nine other people on Sunday.

Cross-border attacks from Yemen have intensified since the suspension in early August of UN-brokered peace talks between the rebels and the Saudi-backed government in Kuwait.

* Additional reporting from Associated Press and Agence France-Presse