August 2016 Aden Bombing

Overview

On the morning of August 29, 2016, a suicide car bombing struck an army training camp in Aden, Yemen, killing 72 people and wounding 67 others. The attack occurred as new military recruits gathered at a local government school being used for enlistment purposes.

The Attack

Recruits at the army training camp had queued in line for breakfast, which was delivered to the compound by truck. Military sources indicated that the recruitment drive was for the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian-led coalition army, which was fighting Huthi rebels along the northern border with Saudi Arabia.

A suicide bomber, suspected to be a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, entered the compound behind the delivery truck. He then drove his vehicle into the gathered recruits and detonated a suicide car bomb, killing himself in the process. The force of the blast caused a roof to collapse, burying recruits beneath the debris.

Claim of Responsibility

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the bombing, describing it as a "martyrdom operation." Despite Al-Qaeda maintaining a large presence in the area at the time, ISIL was the only group to claim responsibility for the attack.

Context

The bombing occurred amid the ongoing Yemeni Civil War, which began in 2014. It followed other terrorist incidents in Yemen that year, including the 23 May 2016 Yemen bombings, the June 2016 Mukalla attacks, and the May 2016 Yemen police bombings.