Car bomb claimed by IS kills 28 in Sanaa

SANAA - The Islamic State (IS) group claimed an attack on two Houthi leaders in Sanaa on Monday night that medics said had killed at least 28 people, including eight women.

The car bomb attack targeted the Houthi leaders Faycal and Hamid Jayache during a gathering to mourn the death of a family member, a security source said.

"The explosion was caused by a car bomb which exploded behind the military hospital in the Shaoub district in Sanaa," a medical source told Reuters.

"At approximately 11.30 we heard a loud explosion, it was a truly powerful explosion. We came out to see what happened and the homes were severally damaged," Yehia Ali, a witness, told Reuters.

"It was an explosive placed inside a car, the car was an Echo that had been parked here since about eight in the evening and no one paid attention to it."

Houthis closed down the surrounding area in the centre of the city after the attack, only allowing through emergency services to help evacuate the victims, witnesses said.

In a statement posted online, IS said it had organised the attack on what it called a "Shia nest" in the Yemeni capital.

The Sunni militant group considers Shias as heretics and has frequently targeted them in attacks in several countries. 

Amid chaos in Yemen as Houthi fighters face off against Yemeni security forces supported by a Saudi-led air coalition, IS has recently claimed a number of bombings against Houthi-controlled mosques in the country.

Scud attack

Despite the months of Arab airstrikes backing up the Houthis' armed opponents in Yemen, the Houthis have not lost ground on the battlefield and have stepped up their exchanges of artillery and rocket fire with Saudi forces along their border.

Yemeni forces launched a Scud missile at a missile base in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Yemeni state news agency Saba quoted the military's spokesman as saying.

"The rocket units in our heroic armed forces today launched a Scud missile at the Al Sulayyil missile base in Riyadh province ... it comes as a response to the crimes of the brutal Saudi aggression," Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said.

Luqman said the attack hit the base, which is about 450 km (280 miles) south of the Saudi capital Riyadh. A previous Scud launched by Yemen's forces earlier this month was shot down by Saudi patriot missiles despite Yemeni claims it struck its target.