At least 18 people were killed and more than 30 wounded in a missile strike by Houthi forces on the al-AIam military camp in Shabwa province in southern Yemen, according to local officials and medical sources.
A spokesperson for Yemen's government forces said the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the camp on Monday while a unit was conducting training. The deputy governor of Shabwa said there were at least 40 casualties but did not separate the dead from the wounded.
The attack comes as fighting continues to spread across Yemen. The country's civil war escalated sharply after the Houthis — an armed group also known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for "Supporters of God" — seized strategic territory from government-loyal forces along the Red Sea coast last month.
Backed by Saudi Arabia, Yemeni government forces counterattacked after those losses and later launched the "Yemen Dawn" campaign aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory, including the capital Sanaa, which the Iran-backed group has controlled since 2014.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said those killed were new recruits and pledged a "firm response." "Targeting recruits reflects the Houthis' approach of using terrorist attacks when under pressure," he said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said the Houthis have claimed responsibility for the strike. He said the group described the attack as targeting a military base it called "Saudi-backed," a reference to Saudi-supported Yemeni government forces stationed at military camps across the country.
The correspondent cited Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree as saying the group will continue to target such bases and considers any site with a Saudi-backed military presence a legitimate target.
Earlier, Yemeni government forces said they had struck Houthi gatherings, vehicles and weapons in al-Aqroudh, al-Shaqab and al-Sarari, south of the city of Taiz, which is grappling with fuel shortages and rising prices.
