Fifteen killed in separate blasts in Yemen

Eight civilians and seven soldiers dead in IED and projectile explosions across country

Buildings damaged by war in Taiz, Yemen. Reuters

Eight people, mostly from one family, were killed when an unexploded projectile from Yemen's years-long war detonated inside a house in Marib on Wednesday.

Seven soldiers were also killed in two separate attacks with IEDs, government officials said.

“An arms dealer was killed along with his wife and five of his children ... and another eighth person inside the family's home while dismantling a projectile left over from the war,” an official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in IED attacks near the city of Taiz on Tuesday evening, with three others killed in a similar incident in the southern province of Abyan.

Although violence has mainly subsided after almost a decade of war, sporadic attacks continue across the country.

The Abyan IEDs are suspected to have been planted by Al Qaeda, a security official told AFP.

The province has been witnessing “security operations and confrontations between Al Qaeda members and security forces” for weeks, he added.

Yemen's conflict broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly and indirectly in more than eight years of fighting, resulting in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Despite prisoner swaps held earlier this year, the UN has said an enduring peace in Yemen needs much more time and effort to secure.

The head of the World Food Programme for the Taiz Governorate was killed last week in what officials called a “criminal assassination”.

The UN's food agency said Moayad Hameidi, a Jordanian citizen, had only just arrived in the country to begin his duties when he was shot dead on Friday.

Yemeni leaders have renewed calls for international aid for the conflict-scarred country, saying the war in Ukraine has dealt a blow to global food supplies, putting more pressure on Yemen's ability to secure essential grains.

Saudi Arabia recently launched development projects worth $320 million to boost Yemen's economy.

Meanwhile, the UN on Tuesday began pumping oil off the FSO Safer Tanker, abandoned off the coast after the war broke out.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the operation is a “complex maritime salvage effort” to transfer one million barrels of oil from the vessel, which has long been at risk of breaking up or exploding.

Experts have warned a major spill from the vessel would cause an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe and some $20 billion in damages.