Yemen’s revived civil war has produced its bloodiest single day yet. On Monday three Houthi ballistic missiles slammed into the al-Alam camp close to Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province in the south, where young men from several provinces had gathered to be trained as police and internal security officers. According to local officials, the recruits were standing in formation when the warheads came down.
The toll climbed sharply as the day went on. Early government and medical figures spoke of 18 dead; by the afternoon the provincial administration counted 53 dead and over 200 wounded. Hospitals in Ataq appealed for blood donors and, according to Fahad al-Khalifi, Shabwa’s number two official, were so overwhelmed that the worst cases had to be moved to Hadramout and Aden.
The two sides tell very different stories about the target. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the strike hit gatherings of the “Saudi enemy” at a site supposedly run by Saudi officers. The internationally recognised government insists it was a training centre far from any front. Moammar al-Eryani, who serves as information minister, called the attack a war crime, while Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the Presidential Leadership Council, promised a “firm response” and asked UN chief António Guterres to have the Houthis listed as a terrorist organisation.
The strike lands in a war that has escalated fast since September, when the Houthis grabbed coastline at the mouth of the Red Sea near Bab al-Mandab. Government troops, backed by Saudi air power, answered with an offensive of their own, and the Houthis have since fired at Saudi airports and energy sites. Officials in Aden say at least 1,282 people have died nationwide since the start of August.
Awad bin al-Wazir, who governs Shabwa, wants extra anti-missile systems for his province. Questions are also growing about why so many recruits were assembled in the open within range of the Houthi missile arsenal.
