Roadside bomb kills 16 Yemeni soldiers; Sudanese troops arrive

CAIRO: At least 16 Yemeni government soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in the province of Marib east of the capital Sanaa, military sources told Reuters late on Sunday.
The sources said the bomb, which also wounded six soldiers, appeared aimed at a patrol near an army camp in Marib. They said it was not clear who was behind the attack.
At least 5,600 people have been killed in seven months of war in Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
Meanwhile, a 400-strong Sudanese force arrived in Aden Monday in support of pro-government forces preparing to confront a possible new offensive by rebels on the country’s south.
Yemen’s loyalist forces, backed by Saudi-led coalition strikes, supplies and troops, pushed the rebels out of Aden as part of an operation launched in July to take back southern territories lost to renegade forces.
Four other southern provinces — Lahj, Daleh, Abyan and Shabwa — were also retaken by the forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
But the Iran-backed rebels this weekend retook several positions in the south.
“More than 400 Sudanese soldiers landed in Aden” as part of the coalition battling the rebels since March, said a commander of Yemeni forces loyal to Hadi.
These will join 500 Sudanese soldiers who arrived in Aden on Oct. 19, part of whom were deployed in the main southern city and the strategic Al-Anad airbase in adjacent Lahj province, the source told AFP.
“General mobilization was been declared in Daleh,” where the rebels recaptured the province’s second-city, Damt, on Saturday, a local official said.
A similar call was made in the coastal city of Dhubab, near the Bab Al-Mandab strait, where the rebels achieved a “limited advance” during the weekend, a military source said.
The rebels seized a military base in Dhubab on Saturday following deadly clashes with pro-government troops, according to military sources.
Pro-government troops seized Dhubab early last month, giving them effective control of Bab Al-Mandab, through which much of the world’s maritime traffic passes.