ISIS Suicide Bomber Disguised as Woman Kills Dozens in Yemen Mosque Attack

Dozens of people were killed outside of Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday when an Islamic State terrorist snuck into a Shiite mosque dressed in ultra-conservative Islamic women’s garb and carried out a suicide bombing.

The Islamic State’s Yemen branch released a statement on Thursday confirming that its members were responsible for the suicide attack, claiming that the man had killed dozens of “rejectionists,” Reuters reports.

The al-Bolyali mosque was packed with congregants attending Eid prayers, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Some media reports have the death toll in the dozens, with estimates ranging from 10 to 36 people killed in the attack.

The statement released by ISIS read:

In a security operation facilitated by God as part of the acts of revenge for Muslims from the rejectionist Houthis, brother Abu Omar al-Hadidi waded into a crowd of apostate Houthis at al-Balili temple, detonated his suicide belt causing dozens to perish or to be injured.

The suicide attack was the sixth of its kind in the past three months, CNN reports.

“Rubble covered the streets. A hole was blown through what appeared to be a thick cement wall… Blood appeared to have stained the carpet where the faithful would have been praying. And shoes, which Muslims take off before entering a mosque, remained unclaimed outside,” a CNN report described what was left after the explosion.

Other reports state that there were multiple suicide bombers involved in the attack.

“Two suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the al-Blaili mosque, killing about 30 people and injuring scores of others at the scene,” an unnamed Yemeni official told China’s state-run Xinhua.

Both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remain active in conducting terror plots throughout the country, even as it is in the midst of a civil war between a Saudi-backed coalition and an Iran-allied Houthi insurgency.

Almost 5,000 people have been killed as a result of the war since March, the United Nations has said, including an estimated 400 children.