At least 26 people were killed, including women and children, in a suicide bombing in the city of Ibb, Yemen on Wednesday.

And at least 48 more people were wounded by the large explosion in the midst of a cultural gathering by Houthis celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, according to state news agency Saba.

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The Houthis, a Shi'ite Muslim group, are former rebels who have taken control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa earlier this year and are seeking to extend their influence from their northern stronghold to the rest of the country.

No one has claimed responsibility for the carnage but the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been known to carry out similar bombings in retaliation for Houthi attacks in cities all over Yemen.

AQAP's Sunni extremists regard the Houthis as heretics and have clashed with Houthi militias as the latter expanded into western and central Yemen.

An official said the bomber mingled with the crowd before detonating his suicide belt near the back of the packed cultural center.

The director of the culture department was seriously injured but most government officials were unharmed, the official told Saba. A witness earlier said that the director general of the Ibb governorate was among those who were killed.

A spokesman of the Houthis described the attack as a "massacre". Medical sources believe the death toll will most likely increase.

Tags26 killed, suicide bombing, yemen, al-Qaida