Photo: A Yemeni man inspects the damage following a bomb explosion at the Badr mosque in southern Sanaa on March 20, 2015. © MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images
The suicide bombing of two mosques in Sana’a today, that killed dozens of people and wounded more than 100 others, must be investigated immediately and those responsible brought to justice, said Amnesty International.
Images broadcast from the scene showed mosque carpets covered in shattered glass and injured people being carried out of the mosques as bodies lay in pools of blood nearby.
Attacking people while they are praying in a place of worship shows utter contempt for fundamental principles of humanity. There can be no justification for such attacks.
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme
“Attacking people while they are praying in a place of worship shows utter contempt for fundamental principles of humanity. There can be no justification for such attacks,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“Those who ordered and planned these abominable crimes must be apprehended and brought to justice.”
The attacks took place at the Badr mosque in southern Sana’a, and the al-Hashoosh mosque in a northern district of the capital just after noon prayers. Both are frequented mostly by Houthi supporters.
The attacks are some of the deadliest to take place in Yemen since the Houthi takeover of the capital in September 2014. They come a day after clashes in Aden, in the south, between supporters of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and supporters of the Houthis injured a number of people, and fighter jets attacked the presidential palace in the same city.