WASHINGTON - Officials in Yemen say a gunman who opened fire on worshippers at a mosque Friday killed at least eight people and wounded dozens of others.

Police say the gunman has been arrested. He opened fire during Friday prayers in a village in Amran province, about 60 kilometers north of the capital, Sanaa.

Reports indicate the gunman was acting alone.

In a separate incident Friday, two rockets were fired near an oil refinery in Aden, Yemen’s main port. Authorities say there was no damage, and no casualties were reported.

On Thursday, Yemeni officials in Sanaa announced the arrest of 11 militants whom they named as members of an al-Qaida terrorist cell.

Friday’s mosque attack recalled a bomb attack earlier this month outside another mosque in a separate part of northern Yemen, Saada region, that killed 18 people and wounded 45 others.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, is among the poorest nations in the Middle East.

Shi’ite insurgents have battled Yemeni government forces in the northwest of the country since 2004 - a conflict that has killed thousands of people.

Source:  VOA News