SANAA — Two suicide bombers killed at least 25 people at a mosque on Thursday in the capital Sanaa, where worshipers were celebrating the Eid Al-Adha holiday, medics and witnesses said. Thursday's blast ripped through the Al-Balili mosque, according to witnesses. Witnesses reported that after a first blast inside the mosque, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt at the entrance as worshipers rushed outside. It was not immediately clear if the first blast was also from a suicide bomber. Nayef, who lives near the mosque, said he heard one explosion followed quickly by a second one. “We gathered to rescue the wounded. The situation is very painful and blood is everywhere.” “We rushed outside and summoned the ambulances,” one witness said. Earlier this month, at least 28 people were killed and 75 were wounded in twin suicide bombings claimed by the Daesh militant group's Yemen branch targeting a mosque in northern Sanaa. In March, Daesh suicide bombers killed at least 137 worshipers and wounded hundreds more in coordinated attacks at two mosques during Friday prayers in Sanaa. Yemen has descended into chaos since the 2012 ouster of Ali Abdullah Saleh, and security has broken down since Houthi militiamen swept unopposed into the capital a year ago. Daesh and the Yemen-based branch of its rival Al-Qaeda have exploited the turmoil to boost their activities in the impoverished country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Qaeda has long been the dominant militant force in Yemen, but experts say Daesh is seeking to supplant its extremist rival. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) controls parts of the vast southeastern province of Hadramawt, including the provincial capital Mukalla, which it is seized in April. It has distanced itself from Daesh's tactics, saying that it avoids targeting mosques to protect “innocent Muslims.” The United States has waged a longstanding drone war against AQAP which it regards as the militant network's most dangerous branch. — Agencies
