Marib (ANN)-Yemen’s Defence Minister, Mohammed Al-Maqdashi, survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday, allegedly by a drone strike.
Local sources reported that a drone attack targeted a meeting at Joint Operations Headquarters in Marib province, attended by the minister along with military commanders of the Saudi-led coalition.
The blast is said to have killed Al-Maqdashi’s driver and two bodyguards. Several senior officers were wounded.
READ: 2 ministers Yemen government survive assassination attempt
There are conflicting narratives as to who was behind the attempt. Saudi-aligned Asharq Al-Awsat claimed that Yahya Abu Hatem, an adviser to the Minister of Defence, had alleged that a Houthi missile was fired from the drone. The Houthi-aligned Yemen Press Agency, meanwhile, reported that Abu Hatem had said that an Emirati drone targeted the military leaders’ meeting, linking the attack with the campaign by the UAE-backed separatists, the Southern Transitional Council.
Al-Maqdashi is the third minister in Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi’s administration to survive assassination attempts this week. The residences of the Interior Minister and Transport Minister were damaged by at least one car bomb on Monday in the eastern province of Shabwa.
