5 killed in Yemen landmine blasts

Sanaa, May 30 (IANS) Five people, including a child and woman, were killed in three separate landmine explosions in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a military official said.

"The blasts were caused by landmines laid previously by the Houthis during the past years," the official told Xinhua news agency.

The official clarified that the first explosion occurred in the southern part of Hodeidah and struck a motorcycle, killing three people, including a child.

In another incident, the official said that "a woman died as a result of an explosion in Al Hali district".

In the third incident, one person was killed while his child was injured while they were heading back to their residence in Hays district.

Demining experts in Yemen say that more than a million landmines have been laid since the outbreak of the civil war in late 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthi militia took control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital, Sanaa.

According to the latest statistics published on the website of the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (MASAM) in Yemen, the project has so far removed 339,431 landmines since mid-2018.