Three Yemeni soldiers were killed yesterday when a mine they had “dismantled” and taken away in their vehicle blew up as they stopped in a marketplace, a security official said.
Seven other people including three civilians were wounded in the blast in Huta, capital of the southern province of Lahj, a bastion of Al Qaeda militants, according to the official.
The soldiers had “dismantled” the mine planted by suspected jihadists on a road on the edge of Huta and placed it in the back of their vehicle, he said, declining to be named. The device exploded when they stopped
at a market in the city, he added.
Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are at war on two fronts, against both militants and Shia Houthi rebels who control swathes of northern and central Yemen.
Yemenis gather around a burnt vehicle at the site where a mine, that Yemeni soldiers were taking away in their vehicle, blew up in a marketplace yesterday in Huta, the capital of the southern province of Lahj, a bastion of Al Qaeda militants. The mine, that the Yemeni soldiers had u201cdismantledu201d, exploded when they stopped at the market, killing three soldiers and wounding at least seven civilians.