SRINAGAR: A Houthi missile strike on a government military training camp in southern Yemen killed 73 recruits and wounded more than 200 others, Shabwa Governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The death toll made Monday’s attack on the al-Alam training camp in Shabwa province the deadliest strike since fighting in the country intensified three months ago, the governor said.
All those killed were aged between 18 and 20, while some recruits remained missing a day after the attack, Ibn al-Wazir said.
The strike occurred as recruits were assembling for a training session. Videos circulating online and analysed by The Associated Press showed numerous bodies lying on the sandy ground at the camp.
According to the governor, the recruits had come from different parts of Shabwa and were being trained to provide security in the province, rather than for combat operations.
The attack came amid a renewed escalation in Yemen’s civil war. Fighting intensified in July after forces of the internationally recognised Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Sanaa International Airport, which is controlled by the Houthis, ending a ceasefire arrangement that had largely halted hostilities since 2022.
The Iran-backed Houthis have also launched missiles and drones towards Saudi Arabia, whose efforts to counter the attacks have continued despite its access to advanced US-supplied weapons.
Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria and Iraq, said at the Global Security Forum in Doha, Qatar, that he understood Saudi Arabia was in a difficult position but that Washington was not prepared to deploy troops to assist it.
