by Murad Abdo
ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Large protests held by pro-secession southern Yemenis continued Tuesday in Aden for the second consecutive day, to protest the recent missile attack by the Houthi rebels.
Hundreds of pro-secession protesters gathered on the public square in KhorMaksar district of Aden to express their anger about two latest deadly attacks that hit the city days ago.
Key pro-secession southern leaders attended the demonstration and vowed to continue to protest against "the Houthi rebel groups and their collaborators in Aden province."
Earlier in the day, Deputy President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) Hani Bin Buraik held a press conference, where he blamed pro-government political parties for collaborating with the Houthis who attacked Aden with a ballistic missile last Thursday.
"We formed a supreme committee for investigating the attack against the army base and parts of the missile were sent to the Saudi-led coalition for examination," said Buraik.
He said also that "the ballistic missile was fired from a neighboring area in the northwestern outskirts of Aden," but mentioned no further details as the investigation will continue.
The Houthi-fired missile was aimed to assassinate all the high-ranking southern political leaders and army officers, including the commander of the Saudi-led coalition forces in Aden, according to Buraik.
"They (the Houthis) were planning to shell the military parade at the first moments to kill all the leaders, but it happened while the commander of the Saudi-led coalition was about to enter the army base and he escaped safely," Buraik added.
The pro-secession leader pledged to continue supporting the Saudi-led coalition in fighting the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Following the press conference, a number of protesters from the neighboring southern provinces joined the demonstration on Aden's public square.
A number of powerful southern tribal leaders vowed to expel the Saudi-backed Yemeni government from Aden during the upcoming days, accusing some of its members of leaking information to the Houthi rebels in Sanaa.
They said in a statement that "collaboration of some officials of the government, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood members, helped the Houthis to attack Aden."
The angry protesters passed through the neighborhoods of Aden, demanding for military escalation against the Houthi rebels and their local collaborators based in the southern port city.
On Thursday, a Houthi-fired ballistic missile hit a military parade held in an army base in the district of Buraiga, leaving scores killed.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bombing launched by the Islamic State (IS) militant group targeted a police station in the neighborhood of Sheikh Othman, killing many security members.
The Houthi-affiliated Masirah television network claimed responsibility for the ballistic missile and drone attack against the pro-government military base in Buraiqa.
Local medical authorities told Xinhua that around 58 people died as a result of the missile attack and suicide car bombing in Aden.
The latest deadly attacks are feared to lead to further military escalation in the war-torn Arab country, as the pro-secession Southern Transitional Council (STC) may carry out more attacks against Houthi-held areas in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and elsewhere in revenge for Aden's attacks.
Days after the attacks, heavy security forces backed by armored vehicles were deployed around key government facilities and military bases located in different neighborhoods of Aden.
Several new checkpoints were also set up by masked security troops around the city's main entrances and intersections.
Considered Yemen's temporary capital, Aden is where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has based itself since 2015.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.
