Blast near Yemen's Aden airport leaves many dead

At least 12 people were killed after a car exploded near the entrance of Aden airport. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether it was an attack or accident.

One security source said the car exploded at an outer entrance to the airport near an airport hotel.
Reuters

One security source said the car exploded at an outer entrance to the airport near an airport hotel.

At least 12 civilians have been killed in a blast near the airport of Aden, the Yemeni government's interim capital. 

"Twelve civilians were killed in an explosion" in the vicinity of Aden airport and "there are also serious injuries", a senior security official told AFP news agency on Saturday, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the cause of the blast was unknown. 

Another security official confirmed the toll. 

The explosion comes almost three weeks after six people were killed in a car-bomb attack that targeted Aden's governor, who survived. 

READ MORE: Scores of Houthi rebels killed in Yemen: Saudi-led coalition

Video footage on Saturday showed people pulling out a body from a vehicle that had been completely destroyed, as firefighters put out flames nearby.  

The internationally recognised government relocated to Aden from the capital Sanaa in 2014, forced out by the Huthis, who are fighting Saudi-backed Yemeni government loyalists.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen's war in 2015.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast, which is the deadliest in the area since December last year, when an attack targeting cabinet members ripped through Aden's airport. 

READ MORE: UN: Millions of Yemenis are 'marching towards starvation'

At least 26 people, including three members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, were killed and scores were wounded when explosions rocked the airport as ministers disembarked from an aircraft.

All cabinet members were reported to be unharmed, in what some ministers charged was a Huthi attack.

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