Militants blow up Sufi tomb in south Yemen

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

According to the reports, local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants attacked the mausoleum of Sheikh Abdulhadi al-Soodi in the Ashrafiya neighborhood of the city of Ta’izz, situated 346 km 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.

SS