Bombs at mosque in Yemen’s capital kill at least 20 people

SANAA, Yemen — A suicide bombing and subsequent car blast killed at least 20 people Wednesday at a mosque in Yemen’s rebel-held capital amid the country’s raging civil war, officials said.

The suicide bomber struck inside the mosque during the evening call to prayers, while the car bomb exploded outside an entrance, they said.

Witnesses said the car bomb exploded while people were carrying out the wounded from inside the mosque, frequented by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

In a message circulated on social media, Yemen’s Islamic State affiliate asserted responsibility for the bombing, identifying the suicide attacker as Quay al-Sanaani and saying the assault was revenge against the Houthis, the Shiite rebels who hold Sanaa.

The Islamic State affiliate has carried out similar attacks targeting mosques, including suicide bombings on March 20 in Sanaa that killed 137 people and wounded 345.

Yemen has been mired in violence since the Houthis captured Sanaa last September.

The Houthi rebels are fighting alongside army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh against forces allied with exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as well as southern separatists and local militias. A Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the rebels since March.

The conflict has killed more than 2,100 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Earlier Wednesday, gunmen fatally shot two Yemenis working for the International Committee of the Red Cross as they were traveling from the northern Saada province to Sanaa, the group said.

Rima Kamal, an ICRC spokeswoman in Sanaa, says the two were killed in Amran province.

Both Amran and Saada are fully controlled by the Houthis.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said Tuesday that seven people were wounded when a missile fired from Yemen struck three vehicles in al-Tuwal village in the Jizan border province.

In Marib province, more than 20 Houthis were killed in ground clashes with pro-government forces and in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition since Tuesday night, independent security officials and medical officials said. Nine pro-government fighters also were killed in the clashes, independent security officials and witnesses said.

Pro-government forces, who control the capital of Marib province, are preparing for a large attack in the next two days, anti-Houthi officials said. If they clear the province of Houthi fighters, the pro-government forces could then proceed to Jawf province, and then to Saada.