Two suicide bombings took place in Yemen on Thursday, killing 70 and wounding over 80.
The first and more severe bombing took place at a gathering of Shiite Houthi rebels at Sana, the capital of Yemen. A man which reports say was about 20 years old blew the explosives that had been attached to himself when he was entering the rebel area.
The second attack occurred in Buroom, a coastal port city, during which a car was blown up and Al Qaeda militants attacked soldiers at an army checkpoint.
As a result of the militants involved in the second attack, as well as Al Qaeda's recent targeted attacks toward Houthis, Al Qaeda has been speculated to have been the perpetrator of both suicide bombings, but no group has come forward in admitting to the attacks as of yet.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been collaborating with another group called Anshar al Sharia in recent attacks on Houthi gatherings.
The Houthis are a religious minority in Yemen, as the majority of the population in Yemen are Sunni Muslims, while the Houthis adhere to Shia Islam. Houthis had recently signed a power-sharing agreement with the current Yemeni government, which means that the current Yemen president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, is currently under pressure to nominate a prime minister that the Houthis approve of.
However, the Houthis strongly opposed Hadi's recent nomination of Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, who they believed was chosen by the U.S. government. The U.S. denied any such involvement, and bin Mubarak has also announced that he will not be taking the prime minister position.
Once a new prime minister is nominated and brought into office, the Houthis claimed that they will be stopping their protests.
Though Al Qaeda in itself has also been attacking governmental institutions and officials, the group is also bent on taking vengeance on Houthis after the Houthis "defeated Sunni tribes in several provinces," according to CNN.
"The Yemeni people have lived with senseless violence for far too long and the recent increase in hostilities against innocent civilians only undermines the progress Yemen has made since the 2011 revolution," said the U.S. embassy in a statement. "Yemen's challenges are political and therefore must be resolved through political solutions."
