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5 women killed as blast hits Yemen wedding hall
HODEIDA, Yemen, Jan 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Five women were killed in war-torn
Yemen when a projectile exploded at a wedding held on New Year’s Day in the
Red Sea port city of Hodeida, officials said Saturday.
The government and Huthi rebel forces blamed each other for the Friday
night bombing of the hall near Hodeida’s airport, a frontline between the
warring sides on the edge of the Huthi-held town.
It came just two days after at least 26 people were killed in blasts that
rocked the airport of the southern city of Aden as government ministers got
off a plane.
General Sadek Douid, the government representative in a UN-sponsored joint
commission overseeing a truce, condemned the Hodeida blast, which also left
seven wounded, as “an odious crime committed by the Huthis against
civilians”.
Hodeida’s Huthi-appointed governor, Mohammed Ayache, said on Al-Masirah
television, which is run by the Shiite Muslim rebels, that “the forces of
aggression never hesitate to blame others for their crimes”.
Saudi-backed government forces launched an offensive in June 2018 to retake
Hodeida, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to poverty-stricken Yemen.
But a ceasefire has been partially observed since December of the same
year.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1449 hrs