The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group’s Yemen affiliate has claimed responsibility for an attack on an Arab coalition base that killed at least 15 troops, including four Emirati soldiers.
The group made the claim through its affiliated accounts on Twitter on Tuesday, posting a series of photos depicting the bombings and pictures of the suicide attackers involved.
“Four martyrdom operations targeted a gathering of Saudi, Emirati, and Yemeni offices,” a statement released by the group stated.
The names of the attackers in the pictures suggested those involved were all Yemeni in origin.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra reported that the claim of responsibility by ISIL marked the start of “strange scenario” in Yemen.
“On one hand we have government forces and the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, and now you have ISIL fighting the government and Houthi forces,” Ahelbarra stated.
“You’ll have the [southern] secessionists fighting al-Qaeda, and ISIL fighting al-Qaeda at the same time…It will be a complete nightmare scenario in the near future.
“In 2014 ISIL emerged saying that they were there to defend Sunnis who had been undermined by the Shia…they were present in the capital Sanaa but now they’re trying to build a platform in the south.”