Photo taken on Dec. 30, 2020, shows the view of the Aden International Airport from the seaside after three explosions rocked the airport in Aden, Yemen. Three massive explosions rocked the Aden International Airport in southern Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least seven people, a security official and medical sources said. (Photo by Murad Abdo/Xinhua)
ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three massive explosions rocked the Aden International Airport in southern Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least seven people, a security official and medical sources said.
The official, who preferred not to be named, said the explosions happened after a plane carrying the new power-sharing government members from Saudi Arabia landed at the airport where local officials were gathering to welcome the arrivals.
All members of the new power-sharing government were transferred to the presidential palace following the blasts, the source added.
He said at least five security personnel died during the explosions, adding the number is very likely to go up.
Medical sources at the nearby Jamhuriah Public Hospital said seven people were killed and many others injured as a result of the airport blasts.
Most of the casualties were civilians waiting to board their flights at the airport's hall, according to the local sources.
Heavy security forces were deployed, blocking the roads leading to the airport's gates.
In his Twitter account, Minister of Information and Culture Muammar Al-Earyani accused the Houthi rebels of being behind this attack.
"The cowardly terrorist attack by Iran-backed Houthi militia on Aden airport will not deter us from our duty," said the minister who was on the plane when the explosions happened.
He confirmed that all government members are safe.
The ministers of the new power-sharing government, in addition to Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, were sworn in last week by Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh.
Earlier this month, Hadi issued a decree to form a new power-sharing government in Yemen led by Saeed, a move that received regional and international welcome.
The new government consisted of 24 ministerial portfolios, divided equally between the northern and southern provinces in Yemen.
The new Yemeni government was established in accordance with the terms of the Riyadh Peace Agreement jointly signed in November last year between the Yemeni government and the leaders of the Southern Transitional Council (STC).
In 2019, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and the Yemeni government to hold reconciliation talks, which resulted in a deal to form a new technocratic cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.
But numerous obstacles have stood in the way of implementing the deal, which excluded the Houthi rebels who are still controlling the capital Sanaa and other northern provinces of the war-torn Arab country.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country and seized all northern regions including Sanaa.
