Sana’a: A suicide bomber struck at a mosque in Yemen’s Al Houthi militant-held capital on Thursday in an attack targeting Shiites that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens during holiday prayers.
The bombing was claimed by Daesh which has been responsible for a string of bombings in the capital in recent months targeting Shiites.
Iran-backed Shiite Al Houthi militants, considered heretics by the Sunni extremists of Daesh, seized control of Sana’a a year ago.
Thursday’s blast ripped through the Al Balili mosque, located near a police academy, where Al Houthi militants and their supporters go to pray, according to witnesses.
The attacks came during the Eid Al Adha observances, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar.
Witnesses said after a first blast inside the mosque, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt at the entrance as worshippers rushed outside.
Bombs in shoes, underwear
The perpetrators hid explosives inside shoes and clothing to get past body searches introduced at the entrance after the other attacks, according to the mosque’s head of security, Adnan Khalid.
“We found a shoe bomb and explosives hidden in underwear and abandoned in the toilet,” he said, adding that two devices had failed to detonate while a third had exploded inside the shrine, causing panic.
“As the crowd rushed to leave the prayer room, a suicide bomber tried to force his way into the mosque,” said Khalid. “He was stopped at the entrance by a security officer and blew himself up.”
Blood stains and debris were seen on the floor of the mosque after the blast, while Al Houthi militants inspected the damage.
Daesh, which controls swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, has repeatedly targeted Shiites in Yemen’s capital and elsewhere. Daesh bomb attacks targeting several Shiite mosques in Sana’a on March 21 killed 142 people. The group has also claimed attacks on mosques in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Al Houthis seized the capital in September last year and have expanded their grip to other parts of the country. Pro-government forces backed by air strikes and troops provided by a Saudi-led Arab coalition have recently managed to wrest back some southern provinces, including the second city of Aden.
After six months in exile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi returned to Aden on Tuesday with a vow to liberate the country from Al Houthis.
In a speech to mark Eid Al Adha, Hadi said Al Houthis had “suffered defeat after defeat” and that “Yemen will soon be freed”.
Daesh and the Yemen-based branch of its terrorist rival Al Qaida have exploited the turmoil to boost their activities in the impoverished country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
