Al-Qaida blamed for car bomb attack in town of Rada, scene of heavy fighting between Sunnis and Shias

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Fifteen children on a schoolbus were among at least 25 people killed in a suicide car bomb attack in central Yemen targeting a Shia militia leader, security sources have said.

The children were killed when their bus was caught up in the attack targeting the home of a leader of the Shia militia, known as Huthis, in the town of Rada, a security source said, blaming the attack on al-Qaida militants.

A medical source confirmed that at least 25 people had died in the attack on Tuesday.

The defence ministry, on its website 26sep.net, condemned “this cowardly terrorist attack on the home of a citizen and a schoolbus”, and also held al-Qaida responsible.

Yemen has been rocked by instability since the Shia fighters seized control of the capital, Sana’a, in September.

The Huthis have since been expanding their presence throughout the country but are facing fierce resistance from Sunni tribes and al-Qaida’s powerful Yemeni branch.

Tuesday’s bomb attack was the second to target Huthis in Rada in little more than a month.

On 12 November a suicide bomber killed dozens of people gathered at the residence of a tribal chief in Rada.

The mixed Sunni-Shia town has seen heavy fighting since the Huthis took over parts of it in October, while al-Qaida has set its sights on taking over Rada. State authority has weakened in the face of the rivalries on the ground.

Armed Huthis surrounded the defence ministry in Sana’a on Tuesday after having been denied access, a military source said.

Another group of Shia militiamen broke into the offices of the newspaper al-Thawra demanding the dismissal of the chairman of the board, Faisal Makram, a source at the official daily told AFP.

The militiaman said they were following orders from their leader, Abdelmalek al-Huthi, “to end corruption in all state institutions”.