Cairo: Security authorities in Yemen’s western province of Jawf have said they uncovered several groups of bombers, including women linked to Al Houthi militiamen.

“Security forces have captured a number of cells sent by Al Houthi militias to plant mines and explosives in markets and other gatherings of civilians,” chief of special security forces in Jawf, Col Abdullah Al Barbar, said, according to Saudi newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.

“They included a women cell who had explosives in their possession,” he added.

Rights groups have repeatedly accused Iran-aligned Al Houthis of indiscriminately laying landmines in civilian areas in war-racked Yemen, resulting in large deaths mainly women and children.

“The expertise gained by Al Houthi militias in manufacturing and hiding explosives has been transferred to them by experts from [Lebanese] Hezbollah group and Iran sent to Yemen to train Al Houthis in killing the Yemeni people,” Col. Al Barbar said.

He added that military engineers in Jawf had managed to remove and defuse many landmines, mostly planted in busy markets and on roads.

Al Houthis plunged Yemen in war in late 2014 when they toppled the country’s internationally recognised government and seized parts of the impoverished country including the capital Sana’a.

An Arab alliance, co-led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are fighting the extremists in Yemen upon a request from its government.