At least nine people have been killed and 30 others wounded in an explosion that ripped through a Shia mosque in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa.
The explosion, which occurred during during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on Thursday morning, hit the Balili mosque near a police academy in Sanaa, witnesses said.
The capital is controlled by Shia Houthis who have driven out Yemen’s government.
Local media reported that the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers.
Sanaa has witnessed a string of attacks on Shia mosques in recent months, which were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that considers Shia muslims to be heretics.
The Houthi rebels have seized several regions of Yemen, including Sanaa, which they took a year ago.
A coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, which supports the government that was forced into exile by the rebels, have started air strikes against the Houthis in March and recently managed to re-capture some southern provinces, including Yemen’s second city of Aden.
Exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi returned to Aden on Tuesday.(Aljazeera)
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/blast-rocks-mosque-yemen-sanaa-eid-prayers-150924053015477.html
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