A suicide bomber has killed 16 Yemeni pro-government soldiers and wounded 18 others in a military post in the southern province of Abyan, local authorities have said.
The attacker “drove a booby-trapped car into a site for the security forces” in the Mudiyah district on Friday, said Mohamed al-Naqib, a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council (STC).
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the operation in a statement, saying a bomber detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device at the military post, according to US-based SITE intelligence group.
Formed in 2009 from the merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi factions, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of the war in Yemen.
AQAP has been carrying out attacks in southern Yemen in recent years, often targeting forces affiliated with the STC, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates. In March, an attack claimed by AQAP killed two fighters in the Abyan province.
Earlier this year, AQAP announced the death of its leader Khalid Batarfi without providing details on how he died. He was succeeded by Saad al-Awlaki.
The group has also used a nine-year conflict between the Iran-allied Houthi group and a Saudi-backed coalition to bolster its influence in Yemen.
While the STC backs the internationally recognised Yemeni government against the Houthis, the group seeks independence in areas in southern Yemen, which unified with the rest of the country in 1990.
In March 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition launched what would become a years-long offensive in support of Yemen’s government against the Houthis who had taken over the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
The fighting, which set off a major humanitarian crisis, turned into a protracted conflict, with the Houthis staying in control in Sanaa and other major population centres, and the Saudi-backed government remaining in the southern city of Aden.
The warring parties in April 2022 agreed to a ceasefire, which expired in October of that year. But the fighting has largely been paused amid diplomatic efforts to find a lasting resolution to the conflict.
AQAP attacks add to concerns about violence in the country amid the fragile pause in large-scale fighting.
Last month, Israel struck Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, killing at least six people in response to a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv.
The Houthis, who present themselves as Yemen’s official armed forces, have been targeting shipping lanes in the Red Sea in a campaign that they say aims to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.
