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The explosion occurred Saturday at the Zaher district in the
province of Bayda, the Houthi rebel-run Health Ministry said in
a statement. At least 67 others were injured, including 40 in
critical condition.
The ministry said rescue teams were searching for those reported
missing. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Footage circulated online showing a massive fire that sent
columns of smoke into the sky and left vehicles charred and
burning.
Bayda is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have
been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government
for more than a decade.
Elsewhere in Bayda, the Houthis attacked and looted Hanaka al-Masoud
village in the al-Qurayshiya district last week, according to
the internationally recognized government. It said there were
fatalities but gave no figures.
Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the attack came
after a weeklong siege of the village.
“This horrific attack targeted citizens’ homes and mosques, and
resulted in many casualties, including women and children, and
the destruction of property," he said.
Rights activist Riyadh al-Dubai said the Houthis detained dozens
of men and looted homes, seizing valuables such as gold, money,
daggers and other possessions. He said shelling by the Houthis
had continued relentlessly day and night for more than five
days.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying in a
statement that the "deaths, injuries, and wrongful detentions of
innocent Yemenis perpetrated by Houthi terrorists are depriving
the Yemeni people of peace and a brighter future."
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the rebels took control of
the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the
government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. A
Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the
time by the U.S., in an effort to restore the internationally
recognized government.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians
and combatants, and in recent years deteriorated largely into a
stalemate and caused one of the world’s worst
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