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Yemen mosques hit by bombings; many feared dead

SANAA, June 18, 2015

Car bombs killed or injured at least 50 people near mosques and the headquarters of Yemen's Houthi group in Sanaa last night.

The co-ordinated attacks were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The four blasts rocked the capital as Saudi-led forces conducted more air strikes against Houthi military bases across Yemen.

Meanwhile, Houthi delegates attending peace talks in Switzerland reported the first tentative progress on the second day of a UN-sponsored push for a Ramadan truce.

A security official said at least 50 people were killed or wounded in the attacks on the Hashush mosque, the Kibsi mosque, the Al Qubah Al Khadra mosque and the political bureau of the Ansarullah movement of the Houthis.

'The explosion was so loud I thought it was caused by an air strike,' said a man in his 70s named Ali, who had just left a mosque when a bomb went off.

'I returned and found cars burning, people screaming and wounded people all over.'

The attack is the most serious of its kind in Yemen since suicide bombers killed at least 137 worshippers and wounded hundreds during Friday prayers at two mosques in Sanaa on March 20, in attacks also claimed by Islamic State.

Earlier yesterday, Houthi rebels in central Yemen blew up the home of a senior politician, Abdel-Aziz Jubari, while he was attending the Geneva talks as a member of the exiled government's delegation.

Yemen's Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla said in Geneva the peace talks had 'made no progress'.

Residents of Dhamar city said the Houthis, who had taken over Jubari's house in April, dynamited the building early in the morning.

Yemeni websites published pictures of its collapsed roof on a pile of rubble.

Jubari is deputy head of the delegation sent to Geneva by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.-Reuters




Tags: yemen | Mosques | bombings |

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