Yemen: 29 killed in pro-Houthi strike on mosque

An army commander in Marib province said that the missile attack occurred while scores of soldiers gathered to perform Friday prayers.

Aden, March 17: About 29 pro-government soldiers were killed and 89 others injured when missiles fired by Shiite Houthi gunmen struck a mosque in Yemen's northern province of Marib on Friday, a military official told Xinhua.

According to the local official, the pro-Houthi forces fired ballistic missiles and struck the mosque inside a military base of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces in Marib.

Witnesses said that huge fire and smokes were seen rising from the Kowfal military camp where the attack happened and many ambulances rushed to the area.

An army commander in Marib province said that the missile attack occurred while scores of soldiers gathered to perform Friday prayers inside the mosque.

The oil-producing northern province of Marib was controlled by Yemen's legitimate government and thousands of Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces stationed there.

The Shiite Houthi group repeatedly fire ballistic missiles against government-controlled provinces but most of the attacks were aborted by air defence systems of the Saudi-led coalition.

Yemen has been suffering from a civil war and a Saudi-led military intervention for around two years. The civil war began after the Houthi militants, with support from forces loyal to the former president, ousted the UN-backed transitional government and occupied capital Sanaa militarily in September 2014.

The legitimate government controls the south and some eastern parts, while the Houthi-Saleh alliance controls the other parts including the capital Sanaa.

The UN has sponsored peace talks between warring factions several times, but the factions failed to reach common ground.

The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 others and displaced over two millions, according to humanitarian agencies.

IANS