42 Dead In Yemen Suicide Attacks, ISIS Claims Responsibility

Three simultaneous bombings hit security checkpoints in the coastal city at sunset, during Ramzan.

People carry an injured man out of a mosque attacked by a suicide bomber in Yemen.(Photo: Reuters)

A wave of suicide bombings targeting Yemeni troops killed at least 42 people in the southeastern city of Mukalla, officials said, in attacks the ISIS has claimed responsibility for.

The capital of Hadramawt province, Mukalla had been under the control of Al-Qaeda for a year, until pro-government troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the city in April.

However, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks on Monday, saying in a statement that eight of its suicide bombers killed 50 members of Yemen’s security forces, according to US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group.

The governor of the vast province, Ahmed Saeed bin Breyk, told AFP that Mukalla had “witnessed five suicide attacks in four areas”.

Three simultaneous bombings hit security checkpoints in the coastal city at sunset, just as troops fasting during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan were breaking their fast, a security official said.

50 members of Yemen’s security forces were killed in the blast.(Photo: Reuters)

In the first attack, a suicide bomber on a motorbike asked soldiers if he could eat with them before blowing himself up, the official said.

Elsewhere in the city, two other bombers approached soldiers on foot before detonating their explosives.

Shortly afterwards, two suicide bombers launched a fourth attack and blew themselves up at the entrance of an army camp, the official said.

In all, the attacks killed 40 soldiers as well as a woman and child who were passing by and wounded 37 other people, said Hadramawt’s health chief Riad al-Jalili.