Aden: Yemen's internationally recognised government accused UAE's air force of attacking its troops on Thursday as they were heading to the key southern port city of Aden to fight separatists backed by the UAE.
A commander of the government's special forces in Abyan province, said that the troops were on the road, headed from Abyan toward Aden on Thursday, when the strikes took place, killing at least 30.
He didn't say who was behind them, saying only the planes were from the Saudi-led coalition.
The UAE also maintains warplanes as part of the coalition.
Officials in the UAE declined to immediately comment.
The development raised concerns about the future of a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels since 2015 and added another complex layer to the civil war that has ravaged the Arab world's most impoverished country.
Infighting has raged for weeks between forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Southern Transitional Council separatists, backed by the UAE — all ostensibly allies in the coalition.
Thursday's airstrikes came a day after Yemeni government forces pushed into Aden to try and retake the city from the UAE-backed separatists.
Earlier on Wednesday, government troops wrested back control of Zinjibar, the capital of neighbouring Abyan province, from the separatists and headed toward Aden.
Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani said on Wednesday that government forces also reclaimed Aden's airport, the main hub for the country's south, but the separatists denied that.
On Thursday, Southern Transitional Council soldiers appeared to be in control of the airport.
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