A bomb hit a university campus in the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday killing two people at an event commemorating the country’s 1990 unification, a security official said.
Several people were also seriously wounded, the official said, adding that death toll was likely to rise.
The event was organised by the Houthi Shia rebels who have controlled the capital since September 2014 despite a 14-month-old Saudi-led military intervention in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The Houthis were commemorating the May 22, 1990 unification of Yemen after centuries of separation between the north and the south, where British colonial rule was followed by a Soviet-backed communist regime.
There was no immediate claim for yesterday’s bombing but both Al Qaeda and its militant rival the Islamic State group have carried out past bombings against the Houthis.
Meanwhile, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has called on all the Yemeni parties to make progress, in order to alleviate the burden placed on the Yemeni people.
“Peace talks are always complicated and require time, however I urge the Yemeni parties to exert all possible effort to reach a sustainable peace agreement in the near future,” he said in a press statement late Monday, reported by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
“Any delay, wastes time and causes the tragic loss of more innocent lives.
The situation in Yemen requires urgent attention and any delay only serves the interests of those who do not believe in peace,” he stressed.
Yemeni negotiators resumed meetings in Kuwait Monday to reach a compromise deal to end Yemeni people suffering, in a last-ditch attempt to save the UN-mediated peace talks.
After five days of suspension, the Yemeni negotiating teams held two sessions to discuss key issues such as the restoration of the state’s institutions, resumption of political dialogue and security arrangements, mainly the withdrawal of armed forces and handover of weapons.
Cheikh Ahmed pointed out that the Government of Yemen (GoY) delegation together with the delegations of the General People’s Congress (GPC) and Ansarallah movement met in a plenary session. He has also convened separate bilateral meetings with the GoY delegation, as well as with the GPC and Ansarallah delegation, KUNA reported.