2 bombers kill 26 including 16 students in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Two suicide car bombers rammed their vehicles into a Shiite rebels' checkpoint and a house south of the Yemeni capital today as a school bus was traveling nearby, killing at least 26 people including at least 16 primary school students, according to the Yemeni government, rebels and witnesses.

Witnesses said that the first car was loaded with potatoes apparently disguising explosives underneath. When the car bomber arrived at the checkpoint manned by rebels, he blew up the vehicle as the students' bus was passing. After the first explosion, a second car targeted the home of a Shiite rebel leader, Abdullah Idris.

State TV quoted the country's Supreme Security Committee — Yemen's highest security body — as saying that at least 26 including 16 students and 10 civilians were killed in the twin bombings.

Witnesses at the site of the attack said that the rebels brought four pickup trucks and dumped dozens of bodies into them while several ambulances rushed to the scene to carry away the wounded. Body parts littered the street along with open bags of potatoes.

The Shiite rebels, known as the Houthis, blamed al-Qaida for the attack in the Radaa area of Baydah province, calling it "the ugliest crime against childhood."