Yemeni government forces supported by a coalition of Muslim countries recaptured army headquarters at Aden airport from terrorists on Wednesday after hours of firefight that left over 20 people dead.
“Troops and special forces have regained control of the base after pushing back the jihadists, several of whom were killed in the fighting,” base commander General Nasser Sarie told reporters.
There was no official count of the casualties yet but sources said at least six government troops and around 20 militant attackers were killed in the fighting.
Earlier reports said at least 10 soldiers were killed by two car bombs set off by the attackers at the headquarter’s entrance before penetrating the base.
The attackers were wearing military uniforms, a military source said.
Responding troops recaptured the headquarters building after an exchange of rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire with the militants throughout the morning.
Apache attack helicopters of the coalition of Muslim countries that intervened in support of the government in March last year were in the skies above the base, witnesses said.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore the UN-recognized government of President Abedrabbo Abdel Hadi after an unholy alliance of Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels and loyalists of disgraced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the national capital, Sanaa, and other provinces.
Wednesday's attack came as Muslims celebrated the feast of Eid Al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Security forces in Aden have come under repeated attack from both the Daesh group and its jihadist rival Al-Qaeda.
The port city of Aden is under the control of government forces who are struggling to secure it more than a year after it was taken back from Houthi Shiite rebels who have seized control of large parts of the country.
Both Al-Qaeda and Daesh have exploited the power vacuum created by the conflict between the government and the rebels to expand their presence in the south and southeast.
Last month, CIA director John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Al-Qaeda had several thousand “adherents and fighters” in Yemen while there are also “several hundred” fighters loyal to Daesh.
In May, twin suicide bombings in Aden claimed by Daesh killed at least 41 people.
A spate of shootings in April and May claimed the lives of the city’s traffic police chief and the governor of its main prison, while the chief of police escaped two assassination attempts in the space of a week, one of which killed four of his guards.
Washington considers the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to be the network’s deadliest franchise and has vowed no let-up in its longstanding air war against the jihadists.
A US drone attack killed three suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Shabwa province east of Aden on Monday, a security official said. On Friday, a similar drone attack in Shabwa killed four suspected jihadists.
In March this year, the coalition turned its sights on the jihadists after a year of focusing its firepower on the Houthi rebels and their allies.
Emirati and Saudi special forces helped government forces to recapture the southeastern city of Mukalla from Al-Qaeda in April ending a year of jihadist rule.
But in Mukalla too, the government has struggled to secure the city and there have been repeated deadly reprisal bombings by the jihadists.

Source: Arab News