Iran-backed Houthi rebels launch ‘kamikaze DRONE’ attack on Abu Dhabi as oil tankers explode and blaze erupts at airport
A DRONE attack on Abu Dhabi has led to three oil tankers exploding and a fire at the airport, police have said.
Responsibility for the attack, which killed three people, has been claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are reportedly equipped with ‘kamikaze drones’ supplied by Tehran.
Abu Dhabi police said three fuel tankers had exploded in the industrial Musaffah area near storage facilities of oil firm ADNOC
A fire also broke out at a construction site at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Police in the United Arab Emirates identified the dead as two Indian nationals and one Pakistani.
“Initial investigations found parts of a small plane that could possibly be a drone at both sites that could have caused the explosion and the fire,” the police said in a statement on state news agency WAM.
The UAE has been at war in Yemen since early 2015, and was a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that attacked the Houthis after the group overran the capital.
The Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, prompting the coalition to intervene.
Senior Houthi figure Mohamed al-Bukhaiti said the strike followed a deal between UAE and Saudi Arabi and promised there would be more attacks.
The drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are controlled remotely by pilots who can wreak havoc from miles away.
A recent report claimed Iran is secretly buying parts for killer drones from China and selling them on to Tehran-backed militias to carry out terror strikes on Western targets.
According to a report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – which has sources within the secretive state – the Islamic Republic’s armed forces export the killing machines to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
The flying weapons are believed to be behind a series of deadly strikes across the region in recent years – including on the Mercer Street oil tanker off the coast of Oman in August that left a Brit dead.
Most recently, an RAF Typhoon fighter yet on Tuesday shot down a suspected Iran-backed militia drone that buzzed the At Tanf coalition air base in southern Syria.
Last year a British armed forces veteran was killed in a “kamikaze drone attack” on an oil-tanker believed to have been carried out by Iran.
The attack on the Mercer Street, which is linked to an Israeli billionaire, occurred off Oman in the Arabian Sea and a Romanian crew member was also killed.
In 2019, Saudi Arabia said drones armed with explosives flown by Iranian backed rebels in Yemen struck two oil pumping stations.
Tehran denies involvement in the incident, which has caused oil prices to rocket by 20 per cent — the biggest ever increase.
Up to 20 drones were thought to be involved, with some of the unmanned craft powered by jet engines.
