Cairo – An explosion at a gas station caused a massive fire central yemen, Health officials said Sunday that at least 15 people had been killed.
The Houthi rebels’ Ministry of Health said in a statement that the explosion occurred on Saturday in Zahir District, Al Bayda Governorate. At least 67 others were injured, including 40 in critical condition.
The ministry said that rescue teams were searching for the missing people. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Footage circulated online showed a massive fire, sending columns of smoke into the sky and leaving cars charred and burned.
Al-Bayda Governorate is under the control of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been at war with the internationally recognized Yemeni government for more than a decade.
Elsewhere in Al-Bayda, the Houthis attacked and looted the village of Hanakat Al-Masoud in Al-Qurayshiya District last week, according to the internationally recognized government. She said there were dead, but did not give numbers.
Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that the attack came after the village was besieged for a week.
He added, “This horrific attack targeted citizens’ homes and mosques, and led to many victims, including women and children, and the destruction of property.”
Human rights activist Riyad Al-Dabi said that the Houthis detained dozens of men, looted homes, and seized valuable items such as gold, money, daggers, and other property. He added that the Houthi bombing continued unabated day and night for more than five days.
The US Embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying in a statement that “the deaths, injuries, and wrongful arrests of innocent Yemenis committed by Houthi terrorists deprive the Yemeni people of peace and a brighter future.”
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north of the country, forcing the government to flee to the south, and then to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, supported by the United States at the time, in an attempt to restore the internationally recognized government.
The war has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people, including civilians and combatants, and has deteriorated greatly in recent years, reaching a stalemate and causing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.