At least 44 people were killed in Saudi-led coalition air raids and fighting between Yemeni loyalists and rebels‚ medical and military sources said yesterday.
The latest deaths came days before UN-brokered peace talks are due to take place between the warring parties in Switzerland. A government-proposed seven-day ceasefire is expected to coincide with the negotiations.
Air-strikes by the Arab coalition on the Haradh area of the northern province of Hajjah hit six homes‚ witnesses said.
“We received the bodies of 12 civilians and more than 20 others were wounded‚” an official at a field hospital in Haradh said.
Haradh‚ on the border with Saudi Arabia‚ is among the northern strongholds of the Shiite Houthi rebels who control Yemen’s capital. With their allies‚ the Iran-backed Houthis have been targeted by the coalition since March.
In the south‚ 12 rebels were killed when loyalist artillery hit two rebel vehicles near the city of Damt‚ which the Houthis and their allies captured last month‚ military sources said. In the same area‚ nine rebels and four pro-government fighters were killed in clashes on Saturday‚ they said.
Further west‚ coalition warplanes struck a rebel convoy between the strategic Taez province and Lahj in the south yesterday‚ killing seven people‚ tribal sources said. The Houthis‚ allied with renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh‚ claimed on their website to have fired a missile at the Saudi Khaled bin Abdulaziz base in the kingdom’s south‚ causing damage.
A truce is much needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation where an estimated 80% of the population of 26 million needs aid. The UN says more than 5800 people have been killed in Yemen‚ half of them civilians‚ and more than 27000 wounded since March.
A blast killed 24 people and injured 70 in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar yesterday‚ officials said‚ and a banned Sunni Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“This is revenge for the killing of Muslims by the Syrian president and Iran‚” said Lashkar-e-Jhangvi spokesman Ali bin Sufyan. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an Islamist group whose sectarian ideology is closely aligned with Islamic State (IS).
It was reported last week that a Shiite unit of Pakistani fighters, the Zeinabiyoun, were joining the war against IS in Syria. Many come from Parachinar‚ which has a large Shiite population‚ unusual in Sunni-majority Pakistan. Regional sources said hundreds of Pakistanis were fighting in Syria.
The explicit linkage of the Pakistan bombing to the war in Syria will alarm Pakistani officials‚ who are keen to play down reports that IS is seeking to establish a foothold in their country.
A couple of small militant groups who splintered from the Pakistani Taliban pledged allegiance to Islamic State‚ but they have not exercised much influence. But across the border in Afghanistan‚ militants who split from the Taliban and pledged allegiance to IS have established training camps‚ taken over territory and clashed with the Taliban.
Like IS‚ which set up a cross-border caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria‚ Lashkar-e-Jhangvi wants to kill or expel Pakistan’s minority Shiites and establish a Sunni theocracy. The group once enjoyed the open support of Pakistan’s directorate for inter-services intelligence‚ but suffered a series of setbacks this year.
The leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi‚ his two sons and several top officials were shot dead in police custody in July. But yesterday’s bombing is proof that the group can still mount devastating attacks.
Parachinar local government official Riaz Hussain said the blast targeted crowds at a market. — AFP-Reuters
Clashes in Yemen kill 44 people
The latest deaths came days before UN-brokered peace talks are due to take place between the warring parties in Switzerland. A government-proposed seven-day ceasefire is expected to coincide with the negotiations.
Air-strikes by the Arab coalition on the Haradh area of the northern province of Hajjah hit six homes‚ witnesses said.
“We received the bodies of 12 civilians and more than 20 others were wounded‚” an official at a field hospital in Haradh said.
Haradh‚ on the border with Saudi Arabia‚ is among the northern strongholds of the Shiite Houthi rebels who control Yemen’s capital. With their allies‚ the Iran-backed Houthis have been targeted by the coalition since March.
In the south‚ 12 rebels were killed when loyalist artillery hit two rebel vehicles near the city of Damt‚ which the Houthis and their allies captured last month‚ military sources said. In the same area‚ nine rebels and four pro-government fighters were killed in clashes on Saturday‚ they said.
Further west‚ coalition warplanes struck a rebel convoy between the strategic Taez province and Lahj in the south yesterday‚ killing seven people‚ tribal sources said. The Houthis‚ allied with renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh‚ claimed on their website to have fired a missile at the Saudi Khaled bin Abdulaziz base in the kingdom’s south‚ causing damage.
A truce is much needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation where an estimated 80% of the population of 26 million needs aid. The UN says more than 5800 people have been killed in Yemen‚ half of them civilians‚ and more than 27000 wounded since March.
A blast killed 24 people and injured 70 in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar yesterday‚ officials said‚ and a banned Sunni Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“This is revenge for the killing of Muslims by the Syrian president and Iran‚” said Lashkar-e-Jhangvi spokesman Ali bin Sufyan. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an Islamist group whose sectarian ideology is closely aligned with Islamic State (IS).
It was reported last week that a Shiite unit of Pakistani fighters, the Zeinabiyoun, were joining the war against IS in Syria. Many come from Parachinar‚ which has a large Shiite population‚ unusual in Sunni-majority Pakistan. Regional sources said hundreds of Pakistanis were fighting in Syria.
The explicit linkage of the Pakistan bombing to the war in Syria will alarm Pakistani officials‚ who are keen to play down reports that IS is seeking to establish a foothold in their country.
A couple of small militant groups who splintered from the Pakistani Taliban pledged allegiance to Islamic State‚ but they have not exercised much influence. But across the border in Afghanistan‚ militants who split from the Taliban and pledged allegiance to IS have established training camps‚ taken over territory and clashed with the Taliban.
Like IS‚ which set up a cross-border caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria‚ Lashkar-e-Jhangvi wants to kill or expel Pakistan’s minority Shiites and establish a Sunni theocracy. The group once enjoyed the open support of Pakistan’s directorate for inter-services intelligence‚ but suffered a series of setbacks this year.
The leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi‚ his two sons and several top officials were shot dead in police custody in July. But yesterday’s bombing is proof that the group can still mount devastating attacks.
Parachinar local government official Riaz Hussain said the blast targeted crowds at a market. — AFP-Reuters
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