5 killed, 119 injured in 24 hours in Yemen: NGO

By Mehmet Nuri Ucar, Hacer Baser and Hamdi Yildiz

ADEN, Yemen (AA) - At least five people were killed, 119 injured during day-long clashes between Yemen’s legitimate government forces and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed forces loyal to Southern Transitional Council (STC) in interim capital Aden.

“In less than 24 hours, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) treated 119 people in its hospital and the wounded continue to pour in,” the MSF, an international medical humanitarian group, said on its official webpage on Saturday.

The statement noted that the dead included a child and most of the wounded were civilians.

On late Saturday, the UAE-backed Security Belt forces seized Aden’s Maasheeq presidential palace and some strategic government institutions after four-day-long clashes.

It was reported that authorities and commanders left the presidential palace in an armored vehicle belonging to Saudi Arabia, and the Security Belt forces took control of the city.

However, the armed forces started to withdraw from the areas they had seized, according to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ekhbariya TV channel, which quoted an official from the Saudi-led coalition, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

STC leader said that Aden commandership of the coalition had accepted all their demands, the channel reported.

In early hours of Sunday, authorities from the legitimate government of Yemen arrived in Saudi capital Riyadh, after the latter called on parties to convene urgently over the latest developments.

The forces loyal to the UAE-backed STC, which attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of Yemen under the President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who resides in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, have been clashing with the government forces in Aden since Wednesday.

The UN office in Yemen said on Sunday that at least 40 civilians were killed, 260 injured in clashes in the last four days.

“It is heart-breaking that during Eid al-Adha [Muslim religious holiday], families are mourning the death of their loved ones instead of celebrating together in peace and harmony,” Lise Grande, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen said in a written statement.

“We call on all parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and do everything possible to protect all Yemeni civilians, from all parts of the
country," Grande urged.

After the popular uprisings in Yemen in 2011, the idea of separation before the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990, came back on the agenda and a separatist movement was formed under the name of "Southern Movement".

*Writing by Sena Guler