The bombing was part of an escalation of Isis attacks against Shia Muslims as Houthi rebels seize territory in Yemen

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on two Houthi rebel leaders in Sanaa on Monday night that medics say killed at least 28 people, including eight women.



The car bomb targeted Houthi rebel chief brothers Faycal and Hamid Jayache during a gathering to mourn the death of a family member, a security source said.

Houthi rebels closed down the area surrounding the city centre after the attack, allowing only emergency services to help evacuate the victims, witnesses said.

In a statement posted online, Isis said it had organised the attack on what it called a Shia nest in the Yemeni capital.

The extremist Sunni jihadist group considers Shia Muslims heretics and has frequently targeted them in attacks in several countries.

The most recent, a suicide bombing by a Saudi national on Friday in a Shia mosque in Kuwait, killed 26 people and wounded 227.

Isis has also claimed to have carried out a car bombing on 20 June against a Shia mosque in Sanaa that killed two and wounded 16, and another series of attacks in the Yemeni capital four days earlier that killed 31.

The jihadist group, which marked the first anniversary of the declaration of its “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria on Monday, has been ramping up its deadly attacks in Yemen since March.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized vast swathes of Yemen since launching an offensive in July 2014, forcing the president, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, to flee the country.

Neither peace talks in Geneva nor a Saudi-led air campaign that began in March have driven the rebels from power and they remain locked in battle with pro-government fighters, Sunni tribesmen and southern separatists.