IS claim ‘revenge attack’ car bomb explosion in Yemeni capital, 28 wounded

A car bomb claimed by Islamic State exploded in the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight, wounding at least 28 people gathered to mourn another attack earlier this month. In a new sign that three months of war in Yemen was ratcheting up, the country’s military spokesman said its forces had launched a Scud missile at a Saudi military base on Tuesday. A Saudi-led military alliance has been bombing Yemen’s dominant Houthi group and its allies in the army to dislodge them from the capital and restore the exiled president.

The explosion was caused by a car bomb which exploded behind the military hospital in the Sha'oub district in Sanaa, which injured 28 people including 12 women in a building where victims of a previous attack were being mourned.

A medical source said.

In a statement posted online, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it had targeted the area “out of revenge for the Muslims against the Houthi apostates.” Despite the months of Arab air strikes backing up the Houthis’ armed opponents in Yemen, the Houthis have not lost ground on the battlefield and have stepped up their exchanges of artillery and rocket fire with Saudi forces along their border. Yemeni forces launched a Scud missile at a missile base in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said the attack hit the base but a previous Scud launched by Yemen’s forces earlier this month was shot down by Saudi patriot missiles despite Yemeni claims it struck its target.

The rocket units in our heroic armed forces today launched a Scud missile at the Al Sulayyil missile base in Riyadh province … it comes as a response to the crimes of the brutal Saudi aggression.

Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman

Yemeni Middle East