Six people were killed and about 50 injured on Wednesday in an unexplained explosion in north-west Yemen near an area where there have been clashes between the army and followers of a rebel Muslim preacher, witnesses and medical sources said.
The blast, the cause of which could not immediately be determined, occurred in a market in Kataf, east of Saada province, said the sources in the town of Saada.
The sources said the scene of the explosion was close to an area where tension has been running high between the army and a senior aide of Sheikh Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi.
Authorities were investigating the blast, they added.
Yemen has been battling the rebel Zaidi cleric and his supporters for two and a half months. More than 400 people have been killed on both sides since the rebellion erupted on June 18. — Sapa-AFP