by Our Foreign Desk

THREE bombs targeting the Saudi-backed faction in Yemen’s civil war killed at least 15 people in Aden yesterday.

An attack on the city’s al-Qasr Hotel, headquarters of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s administration, was followed by two more on United Arab Emirates forces.

Emirati state news agency WAM reported that the 15 dead were soldiers of the Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing Yemen since March.

The coalition recently escalated its intervention, beginning a ground invasion after Mr Hadi’s followers failed to make progress against troops and Houthi tribal fighters loyal to his rival Ali Abdullah Saleh. They control the capital Sanaa.

The official Saudi Press Agency blamed the Houthis for the attack, claiming that the rebels fired Russian-designed Katyusha rockets.

It added that three Emirati troops and one Saudi were among the dead, while WAM said that Hadi loyalists had also been killed.

But, by Tuesday afternoon, the new Islamic State (Isis) affiliate in Aden claimed the attacks in a message circulated online by militant sympathisers.

The group said that a lorry bomb driven by a militant named Abu Saad al-Adani first attacked the hotel, followed by a bomber named Abu Mohammed al-Sahli driving an explosive-laden Humvee.

It also said that bomber Aws al-Adani attacked the “central operations headquarters of the Saudi and Emirati forces” while Abu Hamza al-Sanaani attacked an Emirati military administrative headquarters.

Saudi, Emirati and Hadi officials did not immediately comment on the Isis claims and neither did the Houthi forces.