Suicide bombers kill at least 142 after blowing themselves up in Yemen..See pics

Chai..wickedness....A suicide bomb attack on two mosques in Yemen has killed 142 people.

Four bombers wearing explosive belts attacked the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques in the country's capital Sanaa during midday prayers.

A further 351 people are thought to be wounded, medical officials said.

A group claiming to be the Yemeni branch of Islamic State immediately said they were responsible for the blasts.

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The mosques are mainly used by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group as well as Sunni worshippers. 

The group posted an online statement saying that five suicide bombers carried out what it described as a 'blessed operation' against the 'dens of the Shiites'. It also warned of an 'upcoming flood' of attacks against the rebels

The claim offered no proof of their role - but it was posted on the same website that the Islamic State affiliate in Libya claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack on a museum in Tunisia.

The first bomber was caught by militia guards searching worshippers at the entrance of the Badr mosque.

The mosques are mainly used by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group as well as Sunni worshippers. Above, bodies were covered in blankets after the blast

A group of men carry the body of a victim killed in the attacks using rugs from the mosque's floor

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Injured people are carried on to a truck to be taken to hospital. Around 351 people are thought to be injured, medical officials reported

TORN BY A POWER STRUGGLE

Yemen is torn by a power struggle between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the north and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Hadi has set up a rival power base in the south backed by Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.

The mosques in Sanaa are known to be used mainly by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group, which controls most of northern Yemen.

The rise to power of the Houthis since September last year has deepened divisions in Yemen's complex web of political and religious allegiances. 

He detonated his device at the outside gates while a second bomber entered the mosque and blew himself up amid the crowds, according to the official news agency SABA.

One witness from the attack at al-Hashoosh said he was thrown two metres by one of the blasts.

Mohammed al-Ansi said: 'The heads, legs and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque.

'Blood was running like a river.'

Another witness added: 'I was going to pray at the mosque then I heard the first explosion, and a second later I heard another one.'

Hospitals were urging citizens to donate blood, the Yemeni rebel-owned Al-Masirah TV channel said. 

The bodies of victims of the double suicide attack fill a hallway at a hospital in Sanaía and are covered in blue material

A young girl with blood on her head is carried out from one of the mosques after four suicide bombers attacked them during midday prayers

A man looks at the burnt out shell of a grey car, which was parked outside one of the mosques when the suicide attack occurred

A Yemeni man inspects the damage following one of the explosions. Glass and debris can be seen all over the floor but prayer books remain on the shelves

Falling glass from windows and chandeliers led to a lot of people who had been uninjured by the bombs needing treatment

It also reported that a fifth suicide bomb attack on another mosque was foiled in the northern city of Saada, a Houthi stronghold.

Survivors compared the explosions to an earthquake and said some people were injured by shattered glass falling from the mosque's large hanging chandeliers.

The television channel aired footage from inside the al-Hashoosh mosque, where screaming volunteers were using blankets to carry away victims. 

Corpses were lined up on the mosque floor and carried away in pick-up trucks.

The attacks come just two days after 23 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on tourists at a museum in Tunisia.