Suicide bombers in the Yemeni capital Sanaa blew themselves up during noon prayers at two mosques used mainly by Shi’ite Muslims on Friday, killing at least 50 people and wounding scores, medical sources said, in a major escalation of the worst wave of violence in the country in years.
The attacks, in which four bombers wearing explosive belts targeted worshippers in and outside the crowded mosques, happened a day after an unidentified warplane attacked the presidential palace in the southern city of Aden.
Anti-aircraft guns opened fire on planes flying high over the presidential compound in Aden on Friday, government sources and witnesses said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mosque bombings but supporters of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria, used Twitter to welcome the attacks.
Yemen is torn by a power struggle between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the north and the U.N.-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has set up a rival seat in the south with the backing of Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.
Reuters
