By NNN-SABA,
Sana’a : Thirteen people were killed and 45 injured in a powerful explosion outside a mosque in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada on Friday, police officials said.
The officials said a booby-trapped motorcycle blew up outside the Bin Salman mosque shortly after the weekly prayers in the provincial city of Saada.
Witnesses said the bomb went off as worshippers were leaving the mosque.
“Dozens of injured people were seen lying outside the mosque, and several cars were burned by the blast,” a witness said in a telephone call from Saada, some 230 kilometres north of Sanaa.
The Interior Minister in a statement expressed strong condemnation to this horrifying crime and accused militant Abdul-Malik al-Houthi followers as responsible for this crime.
The source affirmed that those elements behind this incident will not flee penalty and will be brought to justice.
Police said later they had arrested a group of suspects and that the investigations are underway to know further information about the attack.
Meanwhile political, organizations and local councils across Yemen condemned the attack describing it as “a terrorist act”.
They accused al-Houthi rebels of committing the attack in order to create insecurity and instability of the nation.
Saada Security director brigadier Mohammed al-Qahm affirmed that fingerprints of al-Houthis are evident in the explosion that hit Bin Salman Mosque just after Jummah Prayer.
“The mosque’s preacher is against al-Houthis beliefs,” al-Qahm said to Saba.
Medical sources at Al-Salam Hospital in Saada told Saba that the number of fatalities increased to 13 while casualties reached 45. Some injured people were sent to Sana’a hospitals.