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 The four blasts rocked the capital as Saudi-led forces conducted
more air strikes against Houthi military bases across Yemen and
Houthi delegates attending peace talks in Switzerland reported the
first tentative progress on the second day of a U.N.-sponsored push
for a Ramadan truce.
A security official said at least 50 people were killed or wounded
in the attacks on the Hashush mosque, the Kibsi mosque, the al-Qubah
al-Khadra mosque and the political bureau of the Ansarullah movement
of the Houthis, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam.
"The explosion was so loud I thought it was caused by an air
strike," said a man in his 70s named Ali, who had just left a mosque
when a bomb went off.
"I returned and found cars burning, people screaming and wounded
people all over."
The Sunni Muslim Islamic State said in a statement posted online it
carried out the attacks.
"The soldiers of the Islamic State in Yemen, in a wave of military
operations as revenge for the Muslims against the Houthi apostates,
(detonated) four car bombs near the centers of Houthi apostasy," it
said.
 The attack is the most serious of its kind in Yemen since suicide
bombers killed at least 137 worshippers and wounded hundreds during
Friday prayers at two mosques in Sanaa on March 20, in attacks also
claimed by Islamic State.
The Houthi-controlled state news agency quoted an official blaming
Islamic State for the latest bombings. Supporters of Islamic State
exchanged celebratory messages on social media.
Islamic State has recently stepped up its operations in Yemen, where
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), also Sunni Islamist, had
long dominated the militant scene.
AQAP recently suffered a serious blow when a U.S. drone strike
killed its leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi.
HOUSE DESTROYED
Earlier on Wednesday Houthi fighters in central Yemen blew up the
home of a senior politician, Abdel-Aziz Jubari, while he was
attending the Geneva talks as a member of the exiled government's
delegation.
Yemen's Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla told Reuters in Geneva
the peace talks had "made no progress".
Residents of Dhamar city said the Houthis, who had taken over
Jubari's house in April, dynamited the building early in the
morning. Yemeni websites published pictures of its collapsed roof on
a pile of rubble.
Jubari, who is deputy head of the delegation sent to Geneva by
ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said he was shocked when he
heard the news.
"Of course my house is not the only house in Yemen," he told Reuters
in Geneva. "A lot of people's homes and properties have been
targeted in an unbelievable way."
Abdulla, the head of the government delegation, said: "It is in this
spirit of revenge that they are dealing with all the Yemeni people
and we cannot remain silent on this."
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Houthi officials were not immediately available to comment on the
incident.
The Houthis seized Sanaa in September and pressed into the country's
center and south, forcing Hadi and his government into exile in
Riyadh.
They say they are campaigning against corruption and years of
political marginalization.
A coalition of Arab states headed by Saudi Arabia has been bombing
the Houthis and their Yemeni army allies since March 26.
Their aim is to restore Hadi to power and head off what they see as
Shi'ite Iran's expansion in the region. The Houthis deny receiving
military backing from Iran.
More than 2,600 civilians and combatants have been killed since
March and a humanitarian crisis is looming as supplies of food,
medicine and other goods run short.
CEASEFIRE CHANCES DAMPENED
In Geneva, the U.N's special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh
Ahmed, has been conducting shuttle diplomacy between the two sides.
Early on Wednesday Abdulla played down the prospects of a quick
ceasefire deal, saying his team still wanted the implementation of a
U.N. Security Council resolution demanding the Houthis quit cities
they have seized since September. He said he did not want a truce
merely "for the sake of publicity".
U.N. envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he remained optimistic. But
Abdulla said the Houthis had not formed their negotiating team by
early evening.
Hours later, after meeting the U.N. envoy, Hamza Al Houthi who leads
Houthi delegation, told reporters talks would continue on Thursday.
"There is progress on some ideas and issues."
Houthi delegate Ali Imad said: "There was greater openness and
acceptance from the U.N. envoy. All these are signs that today we
are moving towards building the first step to resolving this
crisis."
(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, Ahmed Tolba in Cairo
and Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by
William Maclean and Ralph Boulton)
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