Daesh claims responsibility for deadly bombings in Yemen

Sana’a: A branch of Daesh in Yemen claimed responsibility for a series of car bombings in the capital here that killed at least 30 people on Wednesday, adding a new layer of peril to a city terrorised for months by air strikes as well as by anti-aircraft fire that has fallen on civilian homes.

The bombings, outside mosques where many Shiites worship and a headquarters of the Al Houthi militiamen, were the deadliest attacks claimed by the terrorist group since March, when suicide bombers killed more than 130 people at two Shiite mosques here.

The March attacks helped accelerate the country’s slide toward civil war, sharpening sectarian tensions and aggravating the confrontation between the Al Houthi militiamen, who are from the country’s north, and supporters of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was ousted by the Al Houthis. Saudi Arabia entered the war days later, beginning a bombing campaign that it says is intended to restore Hadi and dislodge the Al Houthis as the country’s dominant force.

The bombings on Wednesday, which occurred during prayer times, are another attempt to inflame tensions at a sensitive moment, as representatives of the Al Houthis and Hadi’s government are engaged in ceasefire negotiations in Geneva, under the auspices of the United Nations. In an online statement, Daesh said the bombings were intended as “revenge” against the Al Houthi “apostates.”

The prominent re-emergence of Daesh came as many Yemenis were waiting to see how the country’s Al Qaida affiliate would react after the killing of its leader in a US missile attack.

The leader, Nasser Al Wuhayshi, was killed in the southern port city of Al Mukalla last week as he gathered with other militants near the beach. The city has been under the control of the affiliate, Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, since early April.

He was the latest in a growing list of senior operatives who have been killed apparently in US missile strikes over the last two months. The string of losses has led some Al Qaida supporters to demand that the group adopt the discipline and brutal tactics of Daesh as a warning to enemies and spies.

On Wednesday, the group seemed to offer a response, by holding a public execution in Al Mukalla of two men it said were Saudi spies who had helped provide information for the drone strikes.

Local journalists said Al Qaida terrorists had asked them to attend the execution on the Asseteen Corniche — the same area where Nasr Bin Ali Al Ansi, a top Al Qaida ideologue, was killed in a missile strike on May 7.

A journalist who attended the executions and requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said: “The militants brought the two men and shot them in the head after indicting them of spying for the Saudis and the Americans.”

Shortly afterward, the bodies of the two men were crucified and displayed on two traffic bridges in the city.