By Awad Mustafa
(Photo: Mohammed HuwaisiAFP/Getty Images)
In the deadliest attack against Saudi-led military coalition forces in Yemen, a missile strike on an ammunition dump has killed 45 Emirati troops, 33 Yemeni soldiers and five Bahraini servicemen in the oil-rich Marib province.
State news agency WAM reported the toll late Friday, saying additional troops died from injuries after officials had earlier said that 22 soldiers had been killed, Bloomberg reported.
Earlier on Friday, Bahrain, another coalition member, announced that five servicemen were killed in southern Saudi Arabia where they had been posted to help defend the Saudi border. It did not give a precise location.
However, Qatari based Al Jazeera news reported that Yemen's exiled presidency said the Bahrainis died in the same blast that killed the Emirati forces.
According to Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, the deaths were caused by a missile that struck an arms depot.
Friday's death toll is the highest ever for UAE forces since the country's unification in 1971.
Despite the severity of the attack, the UAE is not expected to end its involvement in Yemen, Mustafa Allan, director of the National Security and Terrorism Studies Department at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, told Bloomberg.
"The U.A.E. leadership has determined that this is a decisive and strategic battle," Alani was quoted.
"It has also made it clear that it won't back down, irrespective of the economic and human losses."
The UAE has announced a three-day mourning period around the country.
Defense News
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