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Most of the victims of Wednesday’s incident were aid workers and government workers. However, no member of the cabinet was injured, Maine Prime Minister Abdul Malik said.
The new cabinet is the result of Saudi efforts to unite the two allies fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Reuters reported.
Witnesses said the attack began shortly after a plane carrying members of the newly formed council from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, landed at the airport in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden.
At this time, in addition to the big explosion, the sound of continuous gunfire could be heard. A local security official said three mortar shells landed in the airport lobby.
Images shown on Saudi Arabia’s state television channel Al Arabiya show the first explosion in the airport lobby as people get off the plane that landed at Aden airport. Shortly afterwards, the armored vehicles came under heavy fire. At this moment, black and white smoke was seen coming out of the place.
Other video footage showed damaged concrete walls and broken glass at the airport terminal.
Following the attack, members of the cabinet, including Prime Minister Mayin, and the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Syed al-Jaber, were taken to the Mashek presidential palace in Aden for security reasons.
But hours after the first attack, another explosion was heard near the palace, local residents and the media reported.
The cabinet quoted the interior minister as saying in a tweet that 22 people were killed and 50 injured in the attack on the airport.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that two of its officials had been killed and another was missing.
Previously, the Medsan San Frontier medical aid agency said it had treated 18 people at its Aden hospital.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Saudi-led coalition says it has shot down a Houthi drone loaded with explosives sent to attack the presidential palace.
There was no immediate reaction from the Houthis. They also denied responsibility for the attack on the airport.
The new Saudi-backed cabinet has merged the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi with the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the south. Saudi Arabia’s allies have joined the new cabinet to end their differences.
The two groups are the two main southern factions of the Saudi-backed coalition fighting the Houthis, who control the northern part of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
The STC condemned the attack and blamed the Houthi movement.
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