ISIL bomb in Yemen kills ‘many’
July 7, 2015, 9:43 pm

The UN says nearly 3,000 people, including large numbers of civilians, have been killed in deadly Saudi aerial bombardment in Yemen [Xinhua]

Security sources in Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels, could not immediately report on the number of casualties inflicted by the car bomb, which struck near a Shia mosque and an adjacent hospital.

Another car bomb attack in the southern Yemeni town of Bayda killed 10 people, sources said.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack in Bayda.

The two car bomb attacks came a day after nearly 200 Houthi rebels and civilians were killed by Saudi Arabian-led Arab coalition air raids in Yemen.

Nearly half of those killed were at marketplaces in the northern town of Amran and at the southern town of Al Foyoush.

The UN says that at least 3,000 people, including a large number of civilians, have been killed in the six-month conflict. The international body also says that some 24 million people are in need of urgent medical care and humanitarian assistance.

UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Sanaa on Sunday in a bid to secure a humanitarian ceasefire that would at least last until the end of the holy month of Ramadan on July 18.

Previous humanitarian ceasefires soon ended as both sides breached the agreements.

Monday’s violence contributed to the highest death toll since the Saudis and some of their allies began military operations to rout out the Houthis, who they accuse of acting as Iranian proxies.

Saudi Arabia, the UN and the US blame the rebel Houthi movement for collapse of the Yemeni state.

In January, the Houthis – who are Shia – seized the presidential palace and forced then leader Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to resign. They have since sought to consolidate their hold on the country.

Hadi, who was placed under house arrest, eventually escaped and fled to Aden, the former capital of South Yemen.

He then declared Aden the new temporary capital of the entire country, but the Houthis pursued him there and captured that city as well.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies