Tell a Tale

A Yemeni armed group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks targeting mosques and the headquarters of the country’s dominant Houthi group in Sanaa. Dozens of people are reportedly dead and injured in Wednesday’s coordinated attacks on at least three mosques and the political bureau of the Ansarullah movement of the Houthis in the Yemeni capital. The group said the attacks were in “revenge” against Shia Houthis who have overrun Sanaa, and much of the Sunni majority country in the past one year. A security official told Reuters that mosques belonging to the members of Zaidi sect of Shia Islam were the target. The attacks occurred as Muslims around the world prepared for the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Ambulances rushed through the streets in northern and central parts of the capital. The bombings took place as peace talks in Geneva aimed at halting the fighting in Yemen, were extended until at least Friday.

Iraqi forces backed by United States (U.S)-led coalition air strikes have opened supply lines into the town of Beiji and its nearby oil refinery. The development came as the UN condemned alleged abuses of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group against women. Colonel Steve Warren, the defence department spokesman, said the US was not ready to declare Beiji refinery, the country’s biggest, or the town “liberated”, but progress was being made by Iraqi troops. “Friendly forces have begun moving into the town … and are methodically beginning to root out the enemy,” Warren said. At the refinery, Iraqi troops broke through to a contingent of Iraqi troops dug in at the northwest corner of the facility for several months and were able to deliver equipment and personnel to the men on the ground. “This was a methodical and often times grinding movement from the south to the north,” Warren said. “It took the friendly forces several weeks to be able to break through”