Two Indians were among three people killed in a suspected drone attack carried out by the Iran-backed Houthi militant group on three petroleum tankers in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on Monday afternoon. A Pakistani national was also among the casualties. Six persons sustained mild and moderate injuries, police said.
While the UAE didn’t immediately blame anyone for the attack, Yahia Sarei, a military spokesman of the Houthi group, said the group launched an attack “deep in the UAE”. He did not provide further details, saying a statement would be released soon.
Yemen’s Houthi group has taken responsibility for several attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities in the past. The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen fighting Houthi rebels.
Footage from 4 hours ago in #AbuDhabi, #UAE from Snapchat shows a large plume of smoke rising from the area near the reported attack. Footage was taken from https://t.co/TX9XEzHluv pic.twitter.com/9mWdgXRUMW
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) January 17, 2022
While the identity of the two Indians is yet to be established, the Indian Embassy in the UAE confirmed the deaths.
https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1×1.png |Houthis, which claimed responsibility for UAE blasts, had carried out cross-border strikes earlier
“UAE authorities have informed that the explosion at Mussafah, near ADNOC’s storage tanks, has led to 3 casualties, which includes 2 Indian nationals. The Mission @IndembAbuDhabi is in close touch with concerned UAE authorities for further details,” the Indian Embassy in the UAE tweeted.
ADNOC is the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
UAE authorities have informed that the explosion at Mussafah, near ADNOC’s storage tanks, has led to 3 casualties, which includes 2 Indian nationals. The Mission @IndembAbuDhabi is in close touch with concerned UAE authorities for further details.
— India in UAE (@IndembAbuDhabi) January 17, 2022
Another minor fire broke out in the new construction area of the Abu Dhabi International Airport, according to the state-run Emirates News Agency.
According to a Reuters report, the Abu Dhabi police said in a statement that “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”.
Indians are the largest ethnic group in the UAE, with an expatriate community of around 3.5 million. Indians account for nearly 30 per cent of the country’s population, and approximately 15 per cent of the diaspora is in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, according to the Indian Embassy in UAE. —With inputs from Agencies
