Capital city Sanaa hit by deadly car bomb, air strikes hit Aden as talks fail
Sanaa : A car bomb near a mosque in Yemen’s capital today killed two people, as Saudi-led warplanes bombarded second city Aden, after peace talks in Geneva ended without agreement.
The explosion in Sanaa, controlled by Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels, went off outside the Kobbat al-Mehdi mosque as Shiite Muslims emerged from midday prayers, witnesses and security sources said. As well as the two dead, another 16 people were wounded, medical officials said. The blast, which comes as Muslims observe the fasting month of Ramzan, damaged the entrance of the mosque and shattered the windows of a nearby house, an AFP photographer reported.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, SITE Intelligence Group reported, the latest in a series that has targeted Sanaa, which the Huthi rebels seized in September. Since then they have expanded their control to other parts of Sunni-majority Yemen, including Aden in the south, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his government to flee to Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, at least 31 people were killed and dozens wounded in five simultaneous bombings, also claimed by the radical Sunni Muslim jihadist group at Shiite mosques and offices in Sanaa.
Car attack came hours after Saudi-led warplanes launched 15 strikes against Huthi targets in Aden. A pro-government military source said the dawn strikes pounded the northern, eastern and western approaches to Aden, to isolate the Huthis and support forces loyal to Hadi. “The objective is to close the noose around the Huthi rebels in Aden and assist the Popular Resistance Committees,” said the source. Anti-rebel forces comprising pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes, and southern separatists are referred to as Popular Resistance Committees. They have been locked in fierce fighting against the Huthis in Aden, which has been devastated by Saudi-led strikes launched in March in support of Hadi.
The rebels today shelled several neighbourhoods of Aden, killing four people and wounding several others, the military source said, a toll confirmed by hospital officials. The violence came after UN’s special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced Friday in Geneva that talks between the warring sides ended without agreement.
