Terrorist attack in unstable southern port city targets separatists

ADEN - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed six southern separatist fighters on the outskirts of the Yemeni city of Aden on Friday, witnesses said, part of a surge of violence that has complicated a near five-year-old war and undermined UN peace efforts, Reuters reports.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on a patrol of Security Belt forces, a separatist front fighting Yemeni government forces for control of the port city.

The separatists and the Yemeni government forces are both part of a Saudi-led coalition battling the national salvation government forces , Known in the western media as " Houthis".

But the separatists broke with the Saudi-backed forces this month, accused it of ties to Islamists and seized  Aden on Aug. 10

The fighting since then has exposed deep rifts in the coalition – the Saudi- backed government while the United Arab Emirates, the alliance’s second-biggest backer, funds and arms Security Belt and other southern separatist forces.

Militant groups have also sought to take advantage of the turmoil. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks during the war, though there was no independent confirmation of its involvement in Friday’s blast.

The suicide bomber struck in Aden’s northern Dar Saad neighbourhood a day after the UAE raised the stakes by carrying out air strikes against the exiled Hadi government forces in southern Yemen.

The UAE said it had carried out “precise and direct” strikes on Thursday on what it called terrorist militias which it said had attacked Saudi-led coalition forces fighting at Aden’s airport.

The Saudi-backed government condemned the strikes which it said had killed and wounded more than 300 of its forces and a number of civilians.

Source: Websites