Two suicide bombings in Yemen have killed nearly 70 people, including 19 soldiers, in an attack which allegedly targeted anti-government demonstrations by Shi'ite Houthi rebels, officials said Thursday. After staging weeks of protests for better power sharing and a new government, the Houthis had reached a U.N.-mediated deal last month.
The deadliest of the two attacks occurred in the country's capital, Sanaa, when a suicide bomber described to be in his 20's blew himself up, at about 9 a.m., in a gathering of hundreds of Shi'ite Houthi protestors at the central Tahrir Square, which was being controlled by the rebel Shi'ite Houthi movement since last month, the Associated Press reported.
"The Houthis have been waging an effective insurgency against the Yemeni government, and on Sept. 21 gained control over vital government institutions and state buildings in Sanaa," Los Angeles Times reported. "A U.N.-brokered peace deal brought an end to the violence, and in an agreement with President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the Houthis agreed to withdraw their forces from the capital if they were included in a new Cabinet."
Thursday's demonstrations were specifically being held to strongly oppose President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's nomination of Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak as prime minister, which protestors claimed was due to the United States influence. However, bin Mubarak had turned down the nomination himself by early Thursday.
At least 49 people, including four children, were confirmed to have been killed, leaving 140 others injured, 70 of them critically, the Health Ministry said.
The second bombing took place at the outskirts of the southern port city of Mukalla in Hadarmount province, where a suicide car bomber rammed his car against an army security outpost. Immediately after, armed members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula assaulted the checkpoint, authorities said, confirming the double-edged attack to have killed 20 soldiers.
Although responsibility of the attacks was not claimed by any group, it bore the hallmarks of the Sunni militant group al-Qaeda, who is known to be pushing back against gains from the Houthis, who are Shi'ite.
However, unidentified foreign powers were accused by a Houthi spokesman of being behind the bombing in Sanaa, according to LA Times.
"The criminal attack that targeted the gathering of revolutionaries and people of Yemen in Tahrir confirms the size of the foreign conspiracy against Yemen," Mohammed Abdulsalam said, adding that "foreign powers do not want to see Yemen independent."
Meanwhile, the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
