Militia blow up Sufi tomb in south Yemen

Saudi-backed militiamen in Yemen have destroyed the centuries-old mausoleum of a Sufi Muslim in the southwest of the country.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militia attacked the mausoleum of Sheikh Abdulhadi al-Soodi in the Ashrafiya neighborhood of the city of Ta’izz, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, on Friday and reportedly exhumed his remains.

The militants later bombed the tomb, completely destroying its dome and seriously damaging its walls, Arabic-language Yemen Press news agency reported.

The force of the explosion damaged the facade of a number of buildings, and at least 20 civilians sustained injuries after being hit by flying debris in the targeted area.

Sheikh Soodi was a renowned Sufi scholar who lived at the turn of the 9th century on the Islamic lunar calendar and wrote a number of books on mysticism.

Separately, several Saudi-backed mercenaries were killed when Yemeni forces, backed by fighters from Popular Committees, fired a number of artillery rounds at their military camp in the Sadba region of Yemen’s northern province of al-Jawf.

Yemeni snipers also killed three Saudi border guards, including an officer, in the mountainous Jebel al-Dukhan area of the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Jizan.

Furthermore, six Saudi troopers were killed as Yemeni forces fired a barrage of artillery rounds at their military camp in Asir region on the border with Yemen.

Additionally, Yemeni forces launched three ballistic missiles at the Rajla military camp in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Najran region on Saturday, though no casualties were reported.

A battle tank and an armored military vehicle were also destroyed in a missile attack by Yemeni army soldiers and allied forces against the al-Makhrouq military base in Najran.

On Saturday, Saudi fighter jets carried out an airstrike against the Qatabir district in Yemen’s northern province of Sa’adah, leaving a civilian dead and another injured.

Saudi warplanes also pounded a residential neighborhood in the Monabbih district of the same Yemeni province, but there were no immediate reports of casualties available.

In another Saturday development, at least seven civilians sustained injuries when an explosion ripped through an outdoor market in the Dhi As Sufal district of the southern Yemeni province of Ibb.

Yemen has been under military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26, 2015. The Saudi war was launched in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s president but seeks to forcefully grab power.

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