Aden Hotel Used By Yemen Government Officials Attacked, At Least 12 Killed

Three explosions reportedly hit the southern Yemeni city of Aden early Tuesday, including one at a hotel where officials from the government of deposed President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi reside. The rocket-propelled grenade attack on the al-Qasr hotel killed at least a dozen, CNN reported, adding that no government officials were believed to among those killed.

Officials said, according to CNN, that soldiers from the United Arab Emirates, who are a part of a coalition against the Houthi rebels, were killed in the attack at the hotel where Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and other government officials stay. It was not immediately clear who conducted the attack or if Bahah was inside the building at the time of the attack.

However, a report by Iranian news network Press TV said, citing a local newspaper, that Bahah and the other officials were evacuated unharmed by helicopter. The report also added that at least 18 people were killed and that an unspecified number of people were injured in the attack.

According to a report by Reuters, the missile was fired at the hotel’s gate, resulting in flames engulfing the entrance. A second missile hit near the hotel while a third one hit the city's Buraiqah district, Reuters reported, citing residents.

Witnesses had also initially said, according to the Associated Press, that the hotel was on fire after the attack and that ambulances had reached the site.

Yemen has been facing increasing violence since Houthi rebels took control of the capital city of Sanaa earlier this year and a Saudi-led coalition, backing the Hadi government, started airstrikes to fight them. Hadi is currently said to be overseas, Reuters reported.