Suspected al
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — An explosive device detonated and killed six troops loyal to a United Arab Emirates-backed secessionist group Monday in southern Yemen, a military spokesman said, the latest attack blamed on al-Qaida militants in the impoverished Arab country.
The explosion hit a military vehicle as it passed in a mountainous area in the Modiyah district of southern Abyan province, said Mohamed al-Naqib, a spokesman for the Southern Armed Forces, the military arm of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council.
Eleven other troops were wounded, he added.
The UAE-backed council controls much of Yemen’s south. It is at odds with the internationally recognized government, although they are allies in Yemen’s yearslong war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control the north and the capital Sanaa.
Al-Naqib blamed al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for the attack.