This file photo shows a church atop a hill in the Tawahi district, Yemen’s southern port city of Aden. (AFP photo)

Unidentified attackers have exploded a Catholic church in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, amid the ongoing Saudi military aggression against the impoverished Arab country.

According to residents, the abandoned church, which is located in the embattled city’s Mualla District, was blown up on Wednesday by gunmen who “were probably extremists.”

“We heard a strong explosion which sent a big plume of smoke into the air and afterward saw that the building was completely destroyed,” one resident said.

Constructed during the British colonial era in the 1960s, the Immaculate Conception Church was already severely damaged in a Saudi airstrike in May.

Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March. The Saudi strikes were launched to supposedly undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, back to power.

Earlier this week, Mohammed Abdulsalam, the spokesman for Ansarullah, lashed out at Riyadh over sponsoring and supporting terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the southern parts of Yemen as the governor of Aden Province was killed after his convoy was hit by a car bomb attack.

Yemeni security officials said the December 6 incident took place when Jaafar Mohammed Saad was travelling with his entourage in the Tawahi district of Aden City. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abdulsalam warned about the spread of terrorism and growth of Saudi-backed Takfiri militant outfits in Yemen’s southern provinces, while criticizing Saudi aerial attacks together with assaults by al-Qaeda- and Daesh-affiliated terrorists for undermining the relative calm in Yemen’s northern provinces.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured in the Saudi attacks since March 26. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools and factories.

There have been increased warnings that the aggression could strengthen the grip of terror groups across Yemen. Ansarullah revolutionaries have repeatedly declared the fight against extremism and terrorism as one of their main objectives.

A group of militants attacked a natural gas pipeline in Turkey’s southeastern Kars province.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A group of militants attacked a natural gas pipeline in Turkey’s southeastern Kars province which resulted in an explosion, local media reported.

On late Monday, some 20 militants attacked the pipeline from two points, the Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper said.

The attacks were carried out by the militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Governor of Kars, Gunay Ozdemir was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
The PKK is an insurgent group founded in the late 1970s to establish self-determination for the Kurdish community. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
In late July, an oil pipeline was attacked in the Turkish eastern province of Sırnak, near the border with Iraq, preceded by several insurgent attacks.
The security situation in Turkey deteriorated following a suicide bombing in the Turkish border city of Suruc on July 20. The attack killed at least 32 people, most of them Kurds. The notorious ISIL militant group was implicated in the attack.
Two days later, two police officers were murdered in the southern Turkish city of Ceylanpinar. The PKK claimed responsibility for the assassinations, claiming the law enforcement allegedly backed ISIL.

Source: sputniknews.com

Assailants blow up church in Yemen’s Aden

PKK Blow Up Gas Pipeline in Southeast Turkey