Barran Press
Two young men were seriously injured on Monday after a landmine, reportedly planted by the Iran-backed Houthis, exploded in the Al-Durayhimi district of southern Hodeidah, western Yemen.
According to a statement from the district’s Human Rights Office, the blast occurred near the Yemen Mobile tower, east of the local telecommunications building. The explosion critically wounded 27-year-old Murad Khumaisi Qa'atabi, who suffered shrapnel injuries to his head, chest, and abdomen, and 25-year-old Khaled Haba Amari, who sustained shrapnel wounds to his head and other parts of his body.
The office said the victims were returning from a charcoal production site when the landmine detonated. It warned of a sharp increase in mine-related incidents in recent months, accusing the Iran-backed Houthis of intensifying their use of landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and booby traps across the district—a trend that has caused a growing number of civilian casualties.
On March 11, the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) reported that three civilians were killed and three others—including two children and a woman—were injured in February due to landmine and unexploded ordnance incidents in Hodeidah. The mission noted a rise in casualties that month compared to January and warned of ongoing risks to civilians in mine-affected areas.
UN reports estimated that the Iran-backed Houthis have planted around two million landmines across areas under their control, resulting in the deaths and injuries of more than 20,000 civilians—most of them women and children.
Human rights organizations continue to accuse the group of turning Yemen into one of the largest minefields in the world and have repeatedly urged the Houthis to hand over maps showing the locations of planted landmines to demining agencies.