Brothers Faycal and Hamid Jayache, Yemeni Shiite rebel two faction leaders, target of attack. The two were attending funeral of a deceased relative. Houthis have surrounded the area, access allowed only for medical transport. Jihadist movement post online claim of responsibility for the attack against the "Shiite nest" in Sanaa.

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an overnight attack against two Houthi leader in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, which caused the deaths of at least 28 people, including eight women. A car bomb targeted the brothers Faycal and Hamid Jayache, two Shiite rebel faction leaders, while they were attending a ceremony to honor the memory of a relative who died recently.

In response to the attack, the Houthi leaders have closed all access to the area, in the center of Sanaa; the only cars that are allowed access are ambulances used to evacuate casualties.

In the hours after the attack, those responsible for the propaganda of the Islamic State published a document online which the organization claiming the attack against what they call the "Shiite nest" in the Yemeni capital. The members of the Sunni jihadist movement - which yesterday "celebrated" the first year of the declaration of the "Caliphate" in Syria and Iraq - consider Shiites heretics, and a target of attack in different countries of the Middle East.

The most recent of these was carried out by a young Saudi, who blew himself up in a Shiite mosque in Kuwait, killing 26 people and wounding 227. The IS has also claimed responsibility for the explosion of a car bomb on 20 June near a Shiite mosque in Sanaa, which resulted in two deaths and 16 injuries, plus a series of attacks in the Yemeni capital on June 16 that killed 31 people.

Since January, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody internal conflict opposing the country’s Sunni rulers, backed by Saudi Arabia, and Shia Houthi rebels, supported by Iran.Since March, the Saudi led-coalition has carried out air strikes against the rebels.

According to United Nations reports, since19 March, the conflict has killed at least 1,500 people - 828 of them civilians - and wounded another 6 thousand. In the context of the conflict many artistic sites of the ancient capital, considered a Unesco heritage site, have also been destroyed.

• YEMEN
• -
• ISLAM
• Islamic
• State
• attacks
• Houthi
• leader