US Secretary of State John Kerry discusses Yemen war on Saudi trip

The war in Yemen has also allowed extremist groups to flourish there, as the local affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed a suicide bombing today in the southern port city of Aden that killed at least 48 soldiers lined up to receive their pay.

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Any tensions weren’t immediately visible as Kerry held meetings with the king, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and other royalty in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. He later joined diplomats from Britain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates to speak with Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, while Oman has served as an interlocutor for them.

On Twitter, British Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said the meeting discussed a political process to end Yemen’s war, something he described as “the only way to bring peace.”

Yemen’s war began when the Houthis and their allies seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Gulf Arab nations launched a campaign in March 2015 against the rebels.

The UN and rights groups estimate at least 9,000 people overall have died in the war, with the UN estimating at least 4,125 civilians have been killed since the airstrike campaign began.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes were responsible for 60 percent of the civilian deaths over a yearlong span starting in July last year, according to a UN report.

Nearly 3 million more people have been displaced inside the Arab world’s poorest country by the war.