SANAA // Suicide bombings claimed by ISIL killed at least 142 people at mosques in the Yemeni capital on Friday, in an attack targeting Shiite worshippers, including Houthi militiamen.
The multiple blasts came a day after clashes between forces loyal to president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and those allied with the Shiite Houthis in the southern city of Aden, where Mr Hadi fled last month.
The suicide bombers targeted two mosques attended by Houthi fighters, who have seized the capital Sanaa.
One struck inside Badr mosque in southern Sanaa while another targeted panicked worshippers as they fled outside.
A third suicide bomber targeted Al Hashush mosque in northern Sanaa.
Nashwan Al Atab, a member of the health ministry’s operations committee, said that 142 people were killed and at least 351 were wounded.
The Houthi militia’s Al Massira television said hospitals in the capital had made urgent appeals for blood donations.
The imam of the Badr mosque was among the dead.
Footage aired by Al Massira showed bodies lying in pools of blood outside the mosques, as worshippers rushed the wounded to hospitals in pickup lorries.
One witness at the Al Hashush mosque said that he was thrown two metres by the blast.
“The heads, legs and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque,” said Mohammed Al Ansi, adding, “blood is running like a river.”
Mr Al Ansi added that many of those who didn’t die in the explosion were seriously injured by shattered glass falling from the mosque’s windows. He recalled running for the door along with other survivors and hearing one man screaming, “come back, save the injured!”
Footage from inside Al Hashoosh mosque showed screaming volunteers using bloodied blankets to carry away victims. One of the dead included a small child. Corpses were lined up on the mosque floor and carried away in pickup lorries. Another suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in the northern Houthi stronghold of Saada, a source said.
Only the assailant was killed in that explosion, and tight security at the mosque prevented the bomber from going inside.
In an online statement, the previously unknown Sanaa branch of ISIL claimed the bombings and said they were “just the tip of the iceberg”.
“Infidel Houthis should know that the soldiers of ISIL will not rest until they eradicate them ... and cut off the arm of the Safavid (Iranian) plan in Yemen,” the statement said.
The Houthis are accused of receiving support from Iran, while ISIL, an extremist Sunni Muslim organisation, considers Shiites to be heretics.
It is the first time that ISIL has claimed any attack in Yemen where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remains the most prominent extremist group.
AQAP issued a statement, saying it had nothing to do with the bombings.
“We stress that we abide by the instructions of Sheikh Ayman Zawahiri, to avoid targeting mosques and markets ... to protect the lives of innocent Muslims,” it said.
The White House cast doubt over ISIL’s claims, however, saying there was no indication that the extremist group had any operational link to Friday’s attacks.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States is still investigating the claim and looking to see whether ISIL has a command-and-control structure that would enable it to coordinate the attack.
Mr Earnest also said there was no clear evidence backing up ISIL’s claim of responsibility for another deadly attack in Tunisia on Wednesday.
The Houthis overran Sanaa in September, but their attempts to extend control into other areas have been met by deadly resistance from Sunni tribes and Al Qaeda.
Since fleeing to Aden last month, president Hadi has been struggling to reassert his authority, and violence has erupted there in recent days between forces loyal to him and to the Houthis.
Unidentified aircraft dropped bombs on Friday over an area of the southern city that includes the residence of Mr Hadi but he was unharmed.
It was the second such attack in two days to target the presidential compound in the Al Maasheeq district, with Mr Hadi said to have fled his home on Thursday after a fighter jet opened fire, hitting a nearby hill.
Separately, 11 people were killed Thursday when special forces fighters loyal to the Houthis tried to seize control of Aden’s airport from Hadi loyalists, in fighting that forced its closure.
The airport reopened on Friday with a flight to Sanaa.
* Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters
