Four killed in Sanaa bus explosion as Yemen truce looks near

A bus explosion in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Thursday blamed on Islamic State-linked militants killed four people, Houthi officials have said.

Two residents of the Houthi-run city on board the bus died in the explosion, as well as two IS fighters, according to a Houthi government statement. 

The two militants had boarded the bus as they attempted to flee security forces pursuing them, the Houthis said.

When the pair realised their arrest was imminent, they "detonated their explosives, killing two bystanders who were on the bus alongside them", according to the statement.

The details of the incident have not been independently verified, and no group has claimed the two alleged militants who were killed. 

الأجهزة الأمنية تحبط اليوم عملية إجرامية لعنصرين من (داعش) في العاصمة صنعاء

كشف المتحدث الرسمي لوزارة الداخلية، العميد عبدالخالق العجري، عن تفاصيل انفجار باص في العاصمة صنعاء، أسفر عن مقتل اثنين من العناصر التكفيرية "داعش"، واستشهاد مواطنين اثنين كانا على متن الباص.

وأوضح… pic.twitter.com/GC6lXVgIZB

— أمين أحمد حيان Ameen Hayyan (@ameanhayan) April 6, 2023

Militant groups loyal to IS have thrived in the chaos of Yemen's eight-year civil war, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

The deadly explosion came amid news that the Houthis could soon sign a truce with the Saudi-backed government to last until the end of 2023.

War between the Houthis and the internationally recognised Yemeni government broke out in 2014 as the rebel group seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Saudi Arabia and its allies militarily intervened in the war on the side of the government in 2015.

The war and its associated impacts including famine have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and created what the UN has called one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.