At least 137 people were killed when five suicide bombers blew themselves up in two mosques in the Yemeni capital Sanaa during Friday prayers. 357 more are said to be injured, State news agency Saba, which is controlled by the Houthis, has said.
The attacks on mosques used by supporters of the Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters who control the city were the deadliest in a years-long campaign of violence in the country.
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Let the polytheist Houthis know that the soldiers of the Islamic State will not rest and will not stay still until they extirpate them,” the group said in a statement posted by supporters on Twitter.
“God willing, this operation is only a part of the coming flood.”
Four bombers wearing explosive belts targeted worshipers in and around the crowded mosques. A fifth bomber was killed when he tried to attack a mosque in Sadaa province, but the device went off prematurely
Hospitals in Sanaa appealed for blood donors to help treat the large number of casualties.
Television footage showed young men in traditional Yemeni clothes carrying lifeless bodies, some dripping with blood, out of the mosque.
Yemen is torn by an internal power struggle between the Iranian-backed Houthis in the north and the U.N. recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has set up a rival seat in the south with backing of Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.