ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The interior ministry of Yemen's internationally-backed government announced on Tuesday that a terrorist cell linking to the Houthi rebels was bust for involvement in a deadly drone strike last week.
The interior ministry based in Aden said in a statement that the cell members worked for the Houthi rebels in a number of government-controlled provinces including Aden and Lahj.
Investigations with the pro-Houthi cell members revealed that they had carried out assassinations and armed attacks against government officials in Aden, the statement added.
The cell members also confessed to being behind Thursday's drone strike which targeted a military parade of pro-government forces at the Anad air base in Lahj.
The attack killed six soldiers and injured 20 others including high-ranking army commanders.
On Monday, Saleh Tamah, chief of Yemen's military intelligence agency, died of wounds he sustained in the drone attack.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as "a response to the continued raids of Saudi aggression targeting innocent citizens."
Yemeni observers warned that the Houthi drone strike that targeted the Saudi-backed Yemeni army commanders could jeopardize the ongoing efforts aimed at ending the country's conflict peacefully.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
The United Nations has listed Yemen as the country suffering the world's top humanitarian crisis, with 7 million people on the brink of famine.
