UN accuses Yemeni forces of attacks against northerners

The UN’s human rights office has accused southern Yemeni security forces of perpetrating “retaliatory attacks” against citizens from the country’s north.

“We have received information from multiple sources about arbitrary arrests and detention, forced displacement, physical assaults and harassment,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says in a statement.

She says the UAE-backed Security Belt forces are “reportedly carrying out and enabling retaliatory attacks against civilians” originating from northern Yemen.

The United Arab Emirates is part of a Saudi-led military coalition backing the UN-recognized government against Huthi rebels in the country’s conflict.

Shamdasani says the alleged targeting of northerners is “apparent retaliation” for deadly attacks last week by jihadists and the Iran-aligned rebels.

At least 49 people were killed in two separate attacks Thursday in government-held Aden, on Yemen’s southern coast.

The first was a suicide car bombing carried out by jihadists on a police station, which was followed by a Huthi assault targeting newly trained police cadets, officials said.

A day later, Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an army base in southern Yemen, according to security officials.

— AFP