The Houthis use women to lay mines in schools and markets
October 7, 2019, 8:54 am

The Houthis use women to lay mines in schools and markets

Security forces in Yemen's northeastern province of Al-Jawf have seized a women's cell affiliated to the Houthi militias laying mines and improvised explosive devices in popular markets, and civilian gathering areas in Al-Hazm, the capital of the province.

“The security services managed to defuse many of the mines planted by the militias in public markets, road corridors and student schools,” said Colonel Abdullah Al-Bareer, commander of the special security forces in Al-Jawf province.” The Houthi militias have mastered the camouflage and concealment of these mines in a number of ways so that they are difficult to detect and to ensure the greatest number of civilian lives is lost.”

“The expertise and skills acquired by Houthi militias in the manufacture of explosives and the methods of concealing and disguising them have been acquired by experts from Hezbollah and Iran who were sent to Yemen to train militias to kill the Yemeni people through those explosives, mines and explosive devices of various kinds,'' he said.

He added: “The security forces managed to seize a number of cells sent by the Houthi militias to plant mines and IEDs in popular markets and civilian gathering areas in Al-Hazm, the capital of the province. One of those cells was a women's cell with explosives and explosive devices”.

According to a statement published by the media office of a project to clear the mines (Masam) implemented by the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action, the Houthi militias planted mines indiscriminately in densely populated areas, killing many civilians mostly women and children.

He said: “The Houthi project is a project of death and destruction aimed at killing Yemenis of various segments.”

He also highlighted the humanitarian role of the Saudi mine clearance project in Yemen, which saved thousands of civilians, secured many areas in Al-Jawf governorate, and enabled displaced people to return to their homes and farms and practice their lives safely.

The head of the human rights office in Al-Jawf governorate Abdul Hadi Al Asar said that Al-Houthi's militias turned Al-Jawf into minefields. The Houthis planted more mines than the population. He said that the “Masam” teams were able to remove more than 17,000 mines and explosive devices from some directorates of Al-Jawf.

The Saudi-launched Demining Project in Yemen, Masam, managed to extract more than 55,000 mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance in the liberated areas from June last year to March in only five governorates. In 2018 alone, the National Army cleared about 500 marine mines.

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