ISIS has claimed responsibility for killing at least 137 people by bombing two mosques in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, that are reportedly attended by members of the Houthi Shiite group that has recently taken over power in the country. (ISIS, a Sunni group, considers Shiites apostates.) From the AP:
The group posted an online statement saying that five suicide bombers carried out what it described as a “blessed operation” against the “dens of the Shiites.” The bombers attacked the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques, located across town from each other, during midday Friday prayers.
There isn’t yet outside confirmation that ISIS carried out the attack, but the New York Times asserts that the direct targeting of mosques suggests that “a more radical force” than even al-Qaida, which is also very active in Yemen, is responsible. (ISIS and al-Qaida, though both Sunni organizations, are rivals.)
Writes the Times: “Blood could be seen on the street outside the Badr mosque, where the bombers maximized the number of casualties by detonating their explosives inside the packed mosque, but also amongst the overflow of worshipers outside.”
