Explosion at mosque kills 25: Yemen

At least 10 people have been killed and 36 wounded in twin suicide bombings that bore the hallmarks of Islamic State at a mosque in Yemen.

The security officials said the suicide bomber placed an explosive device in his shoe, causing an initial explosion.

In the past four days alone, more than 236 civilians have been killed in airstrikes conducted by a Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels, Yemen’s Saba news agency reported.

Officials fear the death toll from the attack at the Al Bilaili mosque in Sanaa will rise, because dozens of worshippers suffered severe injuries.

The capital of Sunni-majority Yemen has been under the control of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the past year.

Terrorist groups, including Islamic State and al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula, have thrived in Yemen in recent months, taking advantage of its deteriorating security situation.

In an online statement, IS said one of its members wearing a suicide belt had struck “Huthi infidels”.

“Two missiles hit the two houses in the Asbahi district in southern Sanaa, destroying them, killing 20 people and wounding others”, a medic at the scene said.

The radical group considers a certain sect of Muslims to be heretics and has also claimed bombings of mosques in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Thursday’s attack came as worshipers in the Blaili district, many of them Houthis or their supporters, had gathered at a mosque for early-morning prayers marking the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.

Houthi fighters sealed off the area and shouted at onlookers to stay away.

On Tuesday, President Hadi arrived in Aden, after nearly six months of exile.