2 suicide attacks in Yemen kill nearly 70 people

Two suicide bombers struck in Yemen today, one targeting a gathering of Shiite rebels in the country's capital and the other hitting a military outpost in the south , in attacks that killed nearly 70 people, officials said.
The bombings underscored Yemen's highly volatile situation following last month's takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Shiite Houthi rebels whose blitz stunned the impoverished Arab nation on the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Houthis' push into Sanaa also prompted threats of retaliation from their Sunni militant foes in al-Qaida's Yemen branch.
The Health Ministry said at least 47 people died and 75 were wounded when a suicide attacker set off his explosives today morning in central Sanaa.

The attacker targeted a gathering of Houthis and their supporters, mingling among the protesters as they were getting ready for the rally in the city's landmark Tahrir Street before he detonated his explosives, according to security and health officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.

The second bombing took place on the outskirts of the southern port city of Mukalla in Hadarmout province when a suicide car bomber rammed his car against a security outpost, killing at least 20 soldiers and wounding 15, the officials said.
Hadarmout is one of several strongholds of al-Qaida's Yemeni branch, considered by Washington to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, but both bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida, which has for years staged suicide bombings against army troops, security personnel and government facilities.
In Sanaa, the dead and wounded were taken to three hospitals. At one of them, the Al-Moayed hospital, victims' body parts were piled up on the hospital floor, and two severed heads were placed next to two headless bodies.
The body of a man was placed nearby, one of his legs next to it. There were at least six children in critical condition and some of the wounded arrived in hospital badly burnt, missing an eye or a limb.

At the scene of the blast in Tahrir Street, one of Sanaa's busiest, blood pooled on the ground as volunteers scooped up body parts from the pavement.