Alwaght- At least 130 people were martyred in suicide bombing attacks at two mosques during the Friday prayers in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Officials are claiming that 357 were injured in the attacks. The terror group ISIS claimed it committed bombings. The attacks are the deadliest since a car bomb killed 40 people and wounded dozens more at a police academy in Sanaa in January as recruits lined up to register.
According to witnesses, worshippers were attending noon prayers at the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques in Sanaa when at least four suicide bombers blew themselves up in the mosques, which are used by Ansrullah Yemeni, the group that seized control of the government in late January. “The heads, legs and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque,” a witness remarked, “blood is running like a river.” Among those killed was prominent Ansarullah’s religious leader Murtatha Al Mahathwari.
ISIS claimed in a written statement that it executed Friday’s attacks, calling them “a tip of an iceberg.” The statement said that five suicide bombers attacked Ansarullah mosques in Sanaa. A separate audio message was also broadcasted on ISIS-affiliated website, assuring that five terrorist bombers killed dozens of what it called “ Ansarullah infidels.” The audio message was similar to the one posted on Thursday following Wednesday’s attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunisia.
These attacks came days after a top Ansarullah’s leader, Abdel-Karim al-Kheiwan was assassinated in Sanaa, for which Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility. On Thursday, President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s palace in Aden was targeted with airstrikes.
Iran has condemned the terrorist bomb attacks. Iran’s foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Friday that now Yemen needs stability and peace more than any time. Yemen’s enemies intend to achieve their brutal objectives by creating an insecure and instable situation through such terrorist actions. Afkham expressed hope that everyone in Yemen from the ordinary people to political parties would manage to restore peace and stability to the country through political participation and continued dialog.
General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the "terrorist attacks" on the Yemeni worshippers. In a statement from his spokesman Farhan Haq, Ban called on all sides to end hostilities and exercise restraint.
"All sides must abide by their stated commitments to resolve differences by peaceful means, and should engage in good faith in the ongoing UN-facilitated negotiations in order to reach a consensus agreement," the statement read.
Yemen, a key US ally, has been gripped by unrest since ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in early 2012 after a year-long popular uprising against him. Ansarullah group, have taken control of Sanaa in September and then seized key government buildings in the capital earlier this year.
The Yemeni President Hadi Abdrabu Mansour resigned after Ansarullah rebels seized his palace and named a "presidential council" to rule the country and assume the powers of the presidency.
He was placed under house arrest in Sanaa but resurfaced in Aden last month and retracted his resignation, despite being increasingly isolated in his southern Yemen power base.
Now the world fears that the ongoing political instability in Yemen will help al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered the terrorist network's most dangerous branch, to flourish.
