The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 28 people at a Shiite mosque in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on Wednesday.
The bombing is the latest in a wave of killings claimed by the militant Sunni group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and came hours after the Red Cross said a gunman killed two of its Yemeni employees in the country’s rebel-held north in a “deliberate” attack.
IS said a man identified as Qusai al-Sanaani blew himself up after sunset prayers inside the al-Muayad mosque in the northern Jarraf District, home to many senior figures from the Shiite Houthi rebels that control Sana’a.
The militants said a bomb-laden vehicle parked nearby also exploded as medics arrived on the scene, bringing the death toll to at least 28 people and wounding 75, according to medical officials.
A reporter heard two loud explosions followed by many sirens as ambulances rushed to the scene. Body parts were blown several meters away from the scene and nearby buildings were damaged, witnesses said, adding that Houthi gunmen were deployed after the attack to set up new checkpoints across the capital.
The attack was to “avenge Muslims against the Rafidah [Shiites],” IS said in a statement on Twitter.
Its account was confirmed by sabanews.net, the Web site of the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels that control Sana’a.
Radical Sunni Muslim group IS considers Shiites to be heretics and has claimed similar bombings of other Shiite mosques in Sana’a, as well as in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Sunni power Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition that has been bombing the Iran-backed Houthis that has driven the rebels out of Yemen’s second city, Aden, and four other southern provinces and is now fighting for control of the third city of Taez.
US President Barack Obama is expected to raise the campaign at the first, long-delayed White House summit with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today, particularly concerns over the impact the bombing has had on civilians.
Already, 80 percent of Yemen’s population of 26 million are in desperate need of aid, and nearly 1.5 million have been driven from their homes in the five-month war.
Earlier on Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a gunman killed two of its employees in an “appalling” and “brutal” attack.
The pair had been travelling north of Sana’a with two other colleagues in vehicles “clearly” marked with the Red Cross emblem, the ICRC said.
“Sadly, two of our staff were brutally killed on their way back from Saada to Sana’a,” spokeswoman Rima Kamal said.
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