Yemen rebels kill 18 in motorcycle bomb at mosque

A MOTORCYCLE bomb exploded amid a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque after Friday prayers in northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and wounding about 45, government officials said.

Most of the victims were filing out of the Bin Salman mosque in central Saada when explosives rigged to a motorcycle went off next to the building, a local official said. A security official said at least 18 people were killed and about 45 wounded.

Worshipper Mohammed Abdel Bari said he was inside the mosque when he heard a strong explosion.

“I saw crowds of people and two charred vehicles,” Abdel Bari said. “I saw scores of people laying on the ground.”

Saada is nestled in a remote, mountainous area on the Saudi Arabian border, about 124 miles north of Yemen’s capital, San’a.

Thousands of people have been killed in the area since a Shi’ite Muslim rebellion erupted in June 2004. The rebels accuse the Yemeni government of corruption and say it is too closely allied with the West, while the government accuses rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi of sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American sentiment.

Yemen is a key US ally in the Middle East but is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden. The northern rebels are Shi’ite Muslims who are not allied with bin Laden’s Sunni al-Qaida network, which also has an active presence in the country.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, a security official said. Saada residents fear a new round of bloody warfare between government forces and al-Hawthi.

His followers have so far refused to hand over weapons and accuse the government of not fulfilling its obligations under the cease-fire agreements, which include freeing rebel detainees, paying compensation to victims and rebuilding villages ravaged by fighting.