CAIRO (AP) — A Yemeni commander says airstrikes have hit government forces heading to the southern port city of Aden to fight separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates, killing at least 30 troops.

Col. Mohamed al-Oban, a commander of the special forces in Abyan province, says the troops were headed toward Aden on Thursday when the airstrikes took place.

He didn’t say who was behind the strikes, saying only the planes were from the Saudi-led coalition.

Officials in the UAE, which is also part of the coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since 2015, declined to immediately comment.

The attack comes a day after government forces pushed into Aden to try and retake the city from UAE-backed southern separatists, their ostensible allies in the coalition against the Houthis.

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