Local Yemeni authorities raised the death toll from a Houthi strike on a government military camp to 73 on Tuesday, as fighting between the opposing sides escalates.
The attack, which took place a day earlier, was the deadliest in weeks amid renewed clashes between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised, Saudi-supported government following the collapse of a years-long truce, reports AFP.
The strike targeted a camp in the energy-rich Shabwa province. In an official statement, provincial authorities said the death toll had “increased to 73 martyrs, while search and follow-up efforts are ongoing to discover the fate of 14 missing people”.
Local officials initially reported 53 deaths on Monday, with more than 200 others injured. All the casualties were new members of the internal security forces undergoing training.
Majed al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for the Yemeni armed forces, said on X on Monday that the Houthis had targeted Shabwa with three ballistic missiles, hitting a “training centre for personnel of security and police agencies”.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree later confirmed that the group had carried out the attack, saying it targeted “Saudi enemy gatherings in Al-Alam camp, which is run by a Saudi officer from the eastern regions”.
Shabwa province contains major oil and gas fields and is home to the Balhaf liquefied natural gas terminal, the country’s largest energy facility and a key economic asset.
A government military source in the province said on Monday that the army feared the strikes could pave the way for a ground offensive similar to the one in Mocha, the strategic Red Sea port city seized by the Houthis last month.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, the Houthis said Saudi airstrikes on two fishing boats off the coast of Taiz province had killed eight people.
The Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency reported that “eight fishermen were killed after the Saudi enemy’s aircraft bombed two fishing boats today off the coast of Al-Kadha, in the Dhubab district”.
The area lies along Yemen’s western coastline near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which the Houthis seized control of last month.
