Yemen official says 40 killed in Aden attacks
Aden: A Yemen health official and witnesses say at least 40 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a missile attack and coordinated suicide bombings in the southern port city of Aden.
The official says the missile struck a military parade underway Thursday in Aden, the temporary seat of the UN-recognised Yemeni government. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The website of the country's Houthi rebels quoted spokesman Brig. Gen. Yehia Sarea as saying the rebels fired a ballistic missile at forces loyal to the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015.
The parade was taking place in Aden's neighborhood of Breiqa. The official didn't give a breakdown for the casualties at the parade but said several commanders were among the casualties.
Abdel Dayem Ahmed, a senior police official told The Associated Press that 11 were killed earlier in the day when an explosives-laden car, a bus and three motorcycles targeted a police station during a morning lineup.
Yemeni officials and witnesses say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in the southern city of Aden, killing at least three policemen.
They say the attack took place on Thursday in the city's Omar al-Mokhtar neighborhood and that at least 20 people were wounded, including three civilians.
The bomber drove into the police station's gates shortly before the morning police lineup at the before the start of the workday.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to reporters and the witnesses declined to identify themselves for fear of reprisals.
Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government, which has been at war with the rebel Houthis who control the capital, Sanaa, and most of the country's north.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
