Military leader’s home targeted with explosive device, teacher kidnapped in Mahra

MAHRA, Feb. 02 (YPA) – Unidentified gunmen detonated, on Sunday morning, an explosive device near the home of Mohammed Ethan, commander of the Saudi-backed Special Forces Battalion, in the city of Al-Ghaydah, the capital of Al-Mahra governorate in eastern Yemen.

Informed sources reported that the device, planted next to the wall of Ethan’s house, was detonated remotely, whereas shrapnel was scattered across the area, but no injuries were reported.

Ethan is considered one of the most prominent leaders who refused to submit to the leadership of the defunct Southern Transitional Council factions after their takeover of Al-Mahra last December.

Separately, a security official in the border district of Shahn, named Naji Al-Masabi, kidnapped Ajawid Abdul-Raqib Hassan, a contract teacher from Taiz governorate, without providing a reason.

Human rights sources reported that Al-Musabi confiscated the teacher’s personal phone and imprisoned him, demanding that he resign from his job and leave Al-Mahra immediately, in a move described as regionalist against people from the northern governorates.