(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group has claimed responsibility for a car bombing that left at least 40 Shiite Houthi militants dead earlier Friday in Yemen's southern Shabwah province.
"An explosive-packed car driven by a suicide bomber hit the Bayhan police station in Shabwah," the Ansar al-Sharia group said via Twitter.
The bombing, it added, had left "dozens of Houthis dead or injured."
Earlier in the day, tribal sources had told The Anadolu Agency that a booby-trapped car had exploded at the Beyhan police station, killing 40 members of Yemen's Shiite Houthi militant group.
Several others were reportedly injured, the sources added.
The Houthi group has yet to comment on the attack.
Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.
This has brought the Shiite group into conflict with local Sunni tribes and Al-Qaeda, the latter of which is said to remain active in Yemen.
Since March 25, Saudi Arabia and several of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions across Yemen.
Riyadh says the campaign is in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi € now in Saudi Arabia € to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."
The Houthis, for their part, have decried the Saudi-led offensive, which they describe as unwarranted "Saudi-American aggression" against Yemen.
Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.
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