An explosion targeting the funeral of a military commander took place in the Yemeni city of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, yesterday. The explosion took place as people paid their respects to Major General Abdulrab Al-Shadady, a military commander in the national army. Six people were killed and twenty were wounded in the blast that occurred just one week after a similar explosion that targeted the funeral hall where people were paying their respects to the Al-Ruwaishan family in Sana’a took place.

Sources say that an explosive device was planted in a tent outside Major General Al-Shadady’s house in Marib. At least 6 people were killed and twenty injured. Among those killed in Friday’s blast were Major General Al-Shadady’s older brother Salem Al-Shadady and Mohammed Nasser Murshid Shurayf, who is the cousin of Sana’a’s governor General Abdul Qawiyy Shurayf.

The vice governor of Marib Abd Rabbo Miftah told Asharq Al-Awsat “The authorities have opened an investigation into the explosion. The funeral gathering that took place yesterday was held in a small tent in front of Al-Shadady’s house after the end of the official funeral”. He did not rule out the possibility that specific parties that he did not name “exploited weak-minded people” so that they would “plant two explosive devices inside the tent”.