SANAA — A suicide bomber killed at least 33 people in central Yemen on Wednesday when he blew himself up at a cultural center where students had gathered for a religious celebration, medical sources and a resident said. They said at least 33 bodies, including women and children, had been transferred to two hospitals in the city of Ibb. The governor of Ibb province, controlled by the Shiite Houthi group that dominates Yemen, was reported to be among a number of people wounded in the attack, local residents said. In a text message, the state Saba news agency cited the head of Ibb's police as saying three people had died and 30 had been wounded. Residents reported there was a second explosion outside one of the two hospitals, Al-Thawra. No details were immediately available or if there were casualties. No one claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, but it resembles previous attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates in Yemen. AQAP regards Shiites, the sect to which the Houthis belong, as heretics. Meanwhile, at least 34 people, including 25 Houthis, six tribesmen and three AQAP fighters, were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday morning in a battle in Khubza and Almanaseh villages in Radaa district of central Yemen. Fighting broke out when Houthi rebels tried to take the villages from local tribesmen. The Houthis seized large areas of Yemen in September as part of a protracted power struggle with President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. — Agencies
