IS aims to eclipse al-Qaeda with Yemen attacks, say analysts

By claiming its first attack in Yemen the Islamic State group is seeking to exploit the chaos gripping the country since September and siphon support from the local Al-Qaeda branch, analysts say.

Suicide bombings at two mosques frequented by members of the Shiite Houthi militia in control of the capital killed 142 people and wounded 351 on Friday in one of the deadliest extremist attacks in Yemen's history.

IS claimed responsibility via a website message, warning it was "the tip of the iceberg" for Yemen.

In contrast, the country's Al-Qaeda branch, AQAP, issued a statement saying that it avoided "targeting mosques and markets" to protect "innocent Muslims".

The carnage in Sanaa came 48 hours after IS claimed responsibility for an attack on foreign tourists at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, in which 21 people died.

Experts said IS may have been trying to give the impression that it could launch a coordinated, region-wide campaign of attacks.

IS has "demonstrated in recent weeks its ability to coordinate a vast expansion movement, first in Libya, then Tunisia, and finally Yemen," said Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at the Sciences-Po institute in Paris.

'More violent' than AQAP

He said the attacks suggested IS "wants to show would-be jihadists its ability to strike the enemy ... more violently than AQAP could".

Yemen has descended into chaos since the 2012 ousting of longtime strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, and security has broken down since Houthi militiamen swept unopposed into the capital last year. 

The Houthis, allegedly supported by Saleh as well as Iran, surrounded the presidential palace in Sanaa, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee to the south in what many in Yemen labelled an attempted coup.

The Shiite militia has met fierce resistance from Sunni tribal fighters after trying to push further into central Yemen, in clashes that have left scores dead. 

AQAP, considered by the United States to be the network's most dangerous franchise, was formed in 2009 and has been responsible for a string of devastating attacks on Yemeni security forces in recent years. 

It claimed responsibility for the bloody 7 January attack in Paris on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, targeted for its cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

AQAP 'unable to defend even Sunni provinces'

But analysts say AQAP's potency in Yemen may have diminished since the country's descent into disarray.

AQAP has been hit by defections. Its fighters from Dhamar and Sanaa provinces claimed allegiance to IS last month with the stated intention of attacking Houthi militia.

"Since the Houthi militiamen took control of the capital and a good part of the country, Al-Qaeda lost credibility, having been unable to defend even Sunni provinces," said Mathieu Guidere, an expert in Islam at the University of Toulouse.

IS meanwhile "has never hidden its desire to expand into (the Arabian Peninsula), and Yemen is a prime target as it is seen as the birthplace of the Arabs," he added.

In addition, the group could be seeking what Guidere termed "the strategic encirclement of Saudi Arabia," after having seized much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, including Anbar Province, which borders the kingdom to the north.

New Qaeda attack in Al-Baydaa

Meanwhile, two Houthi militants were injured on Saturday in a bomb blast targeting their patrol in Yemen's central Al-Baydaa province, an eyewitness has said.

"An explosive device went off at a Houthi vehicle, injuring two militants," the witness told the Anadolu Agency.

The Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Sharia group claimed responsibility for the attack.

It claimed on Twitter that all those aboard the vehicle had been killed in the attack.

Al-Baydaa has been at the centre of violence and counter-violence between Houthis and armed tribesmen.