Four UAE soldiers killed as coalition helicopter crashes in Yemen

Al-Sabah Al-Yemeni | follow up |

The UAE Armed Forces announced that “four brave soldiers have been martyred” in Yemen on Friday.

The soldiers – line officer Ahmed Khalifa Al Balooshi, Lieutenant Captain Jassem Saleh Al Zaabi, Warrant Officer Mohammed Saeed Al Hassani, and Warrant Officer Samir Mohammed Murad Abu Bakr – were killed in a helicopter crash during “a regular mission” in Shabwa province in Yemen while taking part in a Saudi-led campaign targeting Shiite there.

The UAE’s state-run Wam news agency reported the fatalities, quoting Colonel Turki Al-Malki, the spokesman for the Coalition to Restore Legitimate Government of Yemen.

Col Al-Malki said the helicopter crashed due to a “malfunction”. Initial reports issued by the Saudi Press Agency said the soldiers sustained “minor injuries” following an emergency landing.

Shabwa has seen US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s local branch of al-Qaida amid the Saudi-led war. In June, the US military’s Central Command said a strike there killed Abu Khattab al-Awlaqi, the emir of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The US considers that al-Qaida faction one of the most dangerous threats to the West.

The Saudi-led coalition began its war in Yemen in March 2015 against Shiite known as Houthis who hold the capital, Sana’a.