Reuters| Abu Dhabi

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Three fuel trucks exploded, killing three people, and a fire broke out near Abu Dhabi airport on Monday in what Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said was an attack deep inside the United Arab Emirates.

The Houthi movement, which is battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, has frequently launched cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia but has claimed few such attacks on the UAE, mostly denied by Emirati authorities.

The three people were killed and six others when three fuel tanker trucks exploded in the industrial Musaffah area near storage facilities of oil firm ADNOC, state news agency WAM said. It said those killed were two Indians and a Pakistani.

Unverified footage on social media showed a thick plume of black smoke billowing from what appeared to be the Musaffah area.

"Initial investigations found parts of a small plane that could be a drone at both sites that could have caused the explosion and the fire," Abu Dhabi police said in a statement, adding there was no "significant damage".

The Houthi's military spokesman said the group launched a military operation "deep in the UAE" and would announce details in the coming hours.

UAE authorities and ADNOC did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The coalition's spokesman did not immediately respond.

Pro-coalition forces backed by the UAE recently joined fighting against the Houthis in Yemen's energy-producing regions of Shabwa and Marib.

The UAE had largely scaled down its military presence in Yemen in 2019 amid a military stalemate and heightened regional tensions with Iran, but continues to hold sway through the Yemeni forces it armed and trained.

The Houthis, who ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, prompting the coalition to intervene, have said that their growing military capabilities would allow the group to target the UAE.

In July 2018, the UAE denied reports that the Houthis attacked Abu Dhabi airport with a drone. A month later, Dubai International Airport said it was operating as normal after Houthi-run media said the group launched a drone attack there.

In December 2017, the Houthis said they fired a cruise missile towards a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, which Emirati authorities denied.