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Suicide bomber targets rebel rally in Yemen's capital Yemen: Sanaa suicide bomber kills at least 40 at rally
(about 1 hour later)
At least 20 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck a demonstration in the heart of the Yemeni capital. At least 40 people in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on supporters of a Zaidi Shia rebel group, reports say.
The attack ripped through Sanaa's Tahrir Square, a central plaza currently held by Zaidi Shia rebels. The blast struck as hundreds of people were arriving in Tahrir Square for a demonstration called by the Houthis.
The rally had been called by the Houthis to protest against the president's choice of prime minister, who has now turned down the post. Later, a suicide bomb attack on an army checkpoint in the eastern province of Hadramawt left 20 soldiers dead.
Al-Qaeda's local offshoot has vowed to fight the Houthis, whose fighters overran the capital last month. The attacks come amid a deepening political crisis triggered by the rebels' takeover of Sanaa last month.
A policeman who witnessed the explosion said he saw a man wearing a suicide belt approaching a Houthi checkpoint in Tahrir Square. The Houthis have rejected the president's candidate to lead the new government which is meant to be formed as part of a deal that brought an end to the deadly fighting between the Houthis and government forces.
'Children killed'
The bombing in Sanaa was the deadliest in the capital since May 2012.
A policeman who witnessed the attack said a man wearing an explosive belt had approached a Houthi checkpoint at the entrance to Tahrir Square, in the city centre.
"He then exploded amid the security and ordinary people nearby," he told the Reuters news agency."He then exploded amid the security and ordinary people nearby," he told the Reuters news agency.
A photographer working for AFP described seeing the bodies of four children amid the carnage. Nearby Police Hospital has sent out urgent calls for doctors to help it cope with the dozens of wounded.
Later, at least seven soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on an army position in the eastern province of Hadramawt. A photographer working for AFP described seeing the bodies of four children amid the carnage. Medics said dozens of people were also wounded by the blast.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombings. However, both bear the hallmarks of similar attacks carried out by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). In the Hadramawt attack, a tank and two army vehicles were destroyed when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-filled car at a checkpoint outside the city of Mukalla.
No group has said it was behind Thursday's bombings, but both bear the hallmarks of previous attacks by the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The jihadist group recently vowed to fight the Houthis in defence of the country's Sunni community.
'Foreign interference'
Thursday's demonstration was called by the Houthis to protest against President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's nomination of Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak for the post of prime minister.
Mr Mubarak asked the president early on Thursday to relieve him of the post, saying he wanted to "preserve national unity", but hundreds of Houthi supporters still rallied to show their anger.
On Wednesday night, rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised address that his group had been surprised by Mr Bin Mubarak's nomination.
The move had been announced on Tuesday after the president met the US ambassador to Yemen, he added.
He called Mr Hadi a "puppet" and warned: "Blatant foreign interference is a form of circumventing the popular revolution."
Under a deal brokered by the UN after the Houthis took control of Sanaa on 21 September, Mr Hadi agreed to reverse unpopular fuel subsidy cuts, form a new "technocratic national government", and appoint advisers nominated by the rebels.
In return, the rebels were supposed to withdraw from Sanaa and other northern cities, and hand over their weapons to the authorities within 45 days. However, armed Houthis were still deployed on the streets of the capital on Thursday morning.
The Houthis have staged periodic uprisings since 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for their northern heartland of Saada province.