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15 killed in attack on Yemen hotel where prime minister lives

By Andrew V. Pestano
At least 15 security forces were killed early Tuesday during an attack on the Al-Qasr hotel in Aden, Yemen, where Prime Minister Khaled Bahah lives. Pictured: Houthi fighters inspect the wreckage of a car at the site of an attack near of Qubbat al-Mahdi Mosque in Sanaa on June 20. File photo by Mohammad Abdullah/UPI
At least 15 security forces were killed early Tuesday during an attack on the Al-Qasr hotel in Aden, Yemen, where Prime Minister Khaled Bahah lives. Pictured: Houthi fighters inspect the wreckage of a car at the site of an attack near of Qubbat al-Mahdi Mosque in Sanaa on June 20. File photo by Mohammad Abdullah/UPI | License Photo

ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- At least 15 security forces were killed early Tuesday during an attack on the Al-Qasr hotel in Aden, Yemen, where Prime Minister Khaled Bahah lives.

The attack on the hotel in Aden's al-Buraiqa district killed several Yemeni pro-government fighters. Four United Arab Emirates soldiers and one Saudi solider were also among the dead.

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All Yemeni government officials escaped unharmed; Bahah fled via helicopter. The official Saudi Press Agency cited a coalition statement blaming rocket-propelled grenades for the blasts. Coalition forces "responded to the source of fire and destroyed the vehicles."

Local Yemeni newspaper Aden al-Ghad cited Yemeni security sources as stating the explosions were the result of car bombings.

Aden al-Ghad's sources said men armed with automatic weapons and mortars fought guards at the main gate of the hotel before driving and blowing up a vehicle packed with explosions inside the compound.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Anwar Gargash, UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, blamed the attack on the Houthi rebels.

"The situation on the ground shows that they are waging a losing battle and that their role has been diminished to retreating on the ground and to try to inflict damage with mines, ambushes and rockets," Gargash said in a statement.

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At least 5,000 people have been killed in Yemen since late March, when Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to begin conducting airstrikes against the Houthis. The insurgents had since last year pushed into southern Yemen from the north, seizing the capital, Sanaa, and forcing President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi to seek refuge in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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