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At least one major explosion rocked Aden airport today as a plane carrying the new unity government arrived in Yemen’s makeshift capital.
The source of the blast is still unknown, but airport officials told the Associated Press that they saw bodies dumped on the runway and in other parts of the airport.
According to a correspondent for the French news agency, present at the scene, there were two explosions and they occurred when the plane landed and the ministers began to leave.
An airport security source told AFP that there were several injured, but none among the ministers present.
Images from the scene were shared on social media and show debris and broken glass strewn near the airport building and at least two bodies, one charred, lying on the floor.
Another image shows a man trying to help another whose clothes were torn.
The ministers, led by Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, were returning to Aden after taking office last week as part of a shakeup following a deal with rival southern separatists.
The internationally recognized government of Yemen exerted a self-imposed exile in the Saudi capital during years of civil war in the country.
Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, also in exile in Saudi Arabia, announced a government shakeup earlier this month.
The country, poor and devastated by conflict, formed a new unity government between supporters of ministers and separatists on December 18, under the auspices of Saudi Arabia.
The two sides, which vied for power in the south, are nevertheless allies against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have taken over much of the north of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.
Deep divisions have emerged in the anti-Houthi camp in recent years between government supporters and southern separatists, accusing them of corruption and collusion with Islamists.
Saudi Arabia negotiated a power-sharing agreement in the south and has been trying for more than a year to form a new unity government to hold together the coalition against the Houthis, who have moved closer to Marib, the last stronghold of the government. north.
The war in Yemen has plunged the country, the poorest in the Arabian Peninsula, into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN, with almost the entire population on the brink of famine and threatened by epidemics.
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