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Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Yemeni local leaders on Monday, killing at least five security personnel and wounding two others, authorities said.
State spokesman Mohamed Abdelrahman said the attack took place on Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan’s road, which connects the southwestern city with other parts of the country. Abdelrahman added that two assailants were killed in the gunfight.
The governor’s office said in a statement that security forces and the military were working to bring those behind the attack to justice. So far, no group has immediately claimed credit for the attack.
The capital of the province, also known as Taiz, has been the scene of fierce battles between Iran-backed Houthi rebels, other militias backed by the Islamist Islah party, and other factions embroiled in Yemen’s civil war.
Taiz in the southwest is the intersection of two important highways. One is an east-west road to the coastal city of Moka on the Red Sea, and the other is a north-south road to Sanaa via Damar and Ibb provinces.
It has been under a blockade by the Houthis since 2016 as part of Yemen’s war against the internationally recognized government.
The country’s brutal civil war began in 2014, when Houthi rebels marched from their northern stronghold of Saada province, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile.
The Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, entered the war in Yemen the following year, aiming to restore the government-in-exile.
The war has stalled in recent years after the Houthis reached a deal with Saudi Arabia in which Riyadh and its allies agreed to halt cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia in exchange for a halt to attacks on its territory.
Additional sources of information • AP
