Forty-seven people were killed in a suicide bombing attack in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa. The attack targeted supporters of a Shia rebel group. The explosion caused by the bombing took place while hundreds of people were gathering in the Tahrir Square for demonstrations put together by the Houthis. Soon after this first bombing, another blast went off at an army checkpoint in eastern Hadramawt, causing the death of twenty soldiers. It is believed that these bombing attacks took place because of the political crisis in the area, after the rebels took over Sanaa, last month.
Children were also killed during the incident. This suicide bombing attack is the deadliest attack which took place in the capital of Yemen since 2012. A police officer declared he had spotted a man wearing an explosive belt approaching the Houthi checkpoing next to the Tahrir Square, but he was too far from him to intervene in time. Quickly after having been spotted by the officer, the man blew himself up. Witnesses at the scene declared having seen children dead on the ground. At least 75 other people were severely injured by the suicide bombing incident.
No terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, however it is very similar to previous attacks initiated by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They swore to defend the Sunnis from Houthi attacks. The demonstration of Thursday was held in order to protest against the nomination of Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak by President Hadi, as Prime Minister. Mubarak asked the President to draw back his nomination because he wished to preserve national unity. Hundreds of Houthi supporters still protested afterwards.
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On Wednesday, the leader of the rebels, Abdul Malik al-Houthi declared that his group, as well as him, were surprised by the nomination of Mubarak. He went on calling Hadi a puppet and stating the following: “Blatant foreign interference is a form of circumventing the popular revolution”. After the Houthis seized control over Sanna on September 21st, Hadi made an agreement with the UN to reverse fuel subsidy cuts and form a new technocratic government. They would also appoint advisers chosen by the rebels. The rebels were supposed to withdraw from Sanaa instead and surrender their weapons within 45 hours to the authorities.