5 Shoppers Killed In Grenade Attack In Yemeni Fish Market

At least five people have been killed and more than 30 injured at a Yemen fish market after an explosive device planted in a trash can detonated, police in the port city of Aden said Thursday 26.

Reuters informs that medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Twitter that its trauma hospital in Aden received 50 wounded patients, five of whom had died while six were seriously injured.

The police statement said that several suspects had been detained for questioning but gave no further details. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The man’s motives behind planting the hand grenade are still unknown. However, Shaher Mohamed Abdu, an eyewitness at the market, told AP that a man dropped the bomb following an argument with some fish vendors. 

Aden is the interim home of the internationally recognized government, which is part of a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia that intervened in Yemen after the Houthi rebels ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.

The Yemeni war has been going on since 2014 between the internationally recognized government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi backed by a Saudi-led military coalition and the Iran-allied Houthis. The war started when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa.

The conflict has killed around 130,000 people and caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis as the UN classifies it. According to UNICEF, 21 million people need humanitarian assistance, including more than 11 million children.

Local authorities are trying to maintain security and stability in Aden, but sporadic bombings and drive-by shootings still hit the strategic Yemeni port city. Additionally, attacks are being spread elsewhere in Yemen and perpetuated by both sides in the conflict.

For example, back in January, Saudi coalition fighters bombarded a hospital near the Al-Sawad area in the city of Sanhan, south of Sanaa in Yemen. Saudi warplanes attacked the Model 48 Hospital injuring four members of the staff and critically wounding two of them.

According to local sources, coalition fighters have targeted the hospital compound twice. As a result, the hospital building has been damaged, and major panic has spread among the hospitalized patients.