Bomber killed more 90 military at parade rehearsal in Yemen
More than 90 Yemeni soldiers died as a result of a suicide bombing at a rehearsal of a military parade on Al-Sabin Square in the capital, Sana'a.
According to correspondents, a man dressed in a soldier’s uniform blew himself up during a parade rehearsal that took place near the presidential palace.
A source in al-Qaeda told the BBC that the explosion was carried out by a member of this organization.
According to representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Yemen, as a result of a rally of suicide bomber 222 people were injured.
“We participated in the parade when an explosion suddenly erupted. Dozens of our soldiers were killed. We tried to help them,” said Col. Amin Alghabati in an interview with Reuters. “The bomber was dressed in military uniform. He hid the belt of a shahid under his clothes.”
Another witness to the incident, Ahmed Sobhi, told the Associated Press news agency: "It was a real slaughter. There were torn arms, legs, heads. This is monstrous."
Representatives of the Yemeni security services said that the explosion had arranged a soldier who participated in the preparations for the parade. He detonated an explosive device shortly before Yemeni Defense Minister Nasser Ahmed and the army chief of staff were to greet the military.
The military parade was to take place on Tuesday 22 in May, when it celebrates National Unity Day in Yemen in honor of the unification of the Marxist People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen with the Yemen Arab Republic in 1990.
War on al-Qaeda
The explosion at the parade rehearsal occurred 10 days after the start of a large-scale anti-terrorist operation in Yemen.
Only over the past weekend during the operation at least 33 of the al-Qaida militant and 19 of the Yemeni military personnel died.
Also on Sunday, unidentified people injured an American military instructor driving through the port of Hodeidah, located on the east coast of the Red Sea.
The Ansar Sharia group, which is a branch of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the attack.
After leaving the post of President Abdullah Saleh, the new head of state - the former Vice-President Adb-Rabbu Mansur Hadi - said that one of the most important tasks of his government would be “continuing the war against al-Qaeda”.
He also promised to clear the armed forces of those directly connected with his predecessor Saleh.
Information