Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Pro-government forces removed 300,000 landmines laid by the Houthis between 2016 and 2018

Five foreign demining experts have been killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen, a Saudi-funded charity has said.

The two South Africans, one Croatian, one Bosnian and one Kosovan were in a vehicle that blew up in Marib on Sunday while carrying mines to be destroyed.

A Briton was also hurt, according to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief).

The mines had allegedly been planted by the rebel Houthi movement, which is battling the Saudi-backed government.

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in early 2015, when the Houthis seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government.

At least 6,800 civilians have been killed and 10,700 injured in the fighting, according to the UN. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.

The foreign demining experts, who have not been named, were working for KSrelief's Saudi Project to Demine Yemen (Masam), which is tasked with clearing previously rebel-held areas.

A statement released by KSrelief on Monday said the experts were transporting mines from Masam's headquarters to a remote location when they were killed.

A source told the UAE-based newspaper The National that one mine detonated, causing a blast that set off others in the vehicle.

"The mines continued going off for more than 30 minutes but the impact of the explosions fortunately didn't reach the team's headquarters, where thousands of mines and explosive devices were stored," the source added.

KSrelief said it "joins with the rest of the international community in mourning the loss of these highly-committed professionals, and expresses its deepest condolences to their families".

At least 160 people were reported killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war in Yemen in 2017, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside Yemen's industrial-scale prosthetic limb factory

Yemen was among the first nations to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines, and became a state party in 1999.

Despite that, Houthi fighters are alleged to have laid mines along Yemen's western Red Sea coast, along the northern border with Saudi Arabia, around key towns, along roads, and to cover retreats.

The Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre has said pro-government forces removed 300,000 landmines laid by the Houthis between 2016 and 2018.</s>Two South Africans are among five people who were killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen while transporting mines and explosives to be destroyed, their employer said on Monday.

The MASAM Demining Project said the demining specialists - two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovar - were killed on Sunday while transporting the material in the central Marib province to a remote location where it could be safely detonated.

It said a British national was wounded.

The project, part of the Saudi King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, began in 2018 and seeks to remove unexploded ordnance from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since 2015.

MASAM says the experts "lost their lives while attempting to bring safety and security to the Yemeni people, and their service to mankind will not be forgotten."</s>SANAA, Yemen — The Latest on the conflict in Yemen (all times local):

A Saudi demining group says five of its international experts have been killed by an accidental explosion in Yemen while transporting mines and explosives to be destroyed.

The MASAM Demining Project says Monday that two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovar were killed a day earlier while transporting the material in the central Marib province to a remote location where it could be safely detonated. It says a British national was wounded.

The project, part of the Saudi King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, began last year and seeks to remove unexploded ordnance from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since 2015.

MASAM says the experts “lost their lives while attempting to bring safety and security to the Yemeni people, and their service to mankind will not be forgotten.”

Yemeni security officials say U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths has arrived in the capital, Sanaa, on an unannounced visit to discuss the “complex situation” in and around the coastal city of Hodeida, where Yemen’s warring parties agreed to a cease-fire last month and agreed on a prisoner exchange that has yet to take place.

Also under discussion from Monday will be disagreements between Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who hold Hodeida, and Retired Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who is heading a U.N. mission charged with monitoring the cease-fire.

The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of Sanaa by the Iran-aligned rebels. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the internationally recognized government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

The officials spoke anonymously as they weren’t authorized to brief journalists.</s>SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Five foreign demining specialists were killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen while transporting mines and explosives to be destroyed, their employer said Monday.

The MASAM Demining Project said the two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovar were killed Sunday while transporting the material in the central Marib province to a remote location where it could be safely detonated. It said a British national was wounded.

The project, part of the Saudi King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, began last year and seeks to remove unexploded ordnance from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since 2015.

MASAM says the experts "lost their lives while attempting to bring safety and security to the Yemeni people, and their service to mankind will not be forgotten."

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths meanwhile arrived in the capital, Sanaa, on an unannounced visit on Monday to discuss the situation in and around the coastal city of Hodeida, where Yemen's warring parties agreed to a cease-fire last month. The two sides also agreed to a prisoner exchange last month that has yet to take place.

Also under discussion will be disagreements between Yemen's Houthi rebels, who hold Hodeida, and Retired Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who is heading a U.N. mission charged with monitoring the cease-fire. The mission plans to send additional observers into Yemen and wants to secure their safety, especially after a U.N.-marked armored vehicle in Cammaert's convoy was hit with a round of small arms fire last week.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the mediators are trying to arrange the first face-to-face meeting between government representatives and the rebels. Cammaert has had to shuttle between government and rebel representatives in different rooms. Dujarric gave no timetable of when a face-to-face meeting might be held.

The refusal of the government and the Houthis to sit in the same room is another indication of the lack of trust between the warring parties and the difficulty in implementing the full cease-fire agreement they reached in Sweden.

Dujarric said Griffiths will also visit Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, in the coming days.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.</s>Five demining experts killed in a weekend explosion in Yemen were from South Africa and several European countries, a Saudi-run organisation in charge of the project said Monday.

The state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) said two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovan were killed Sunday when a vehicle carrying mines to be destroyed exploded in the central province of Marib.

A British national was injured in the explosion, KSRelief said without naming the casualties.

War-torn Yemen is home to what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 24 million people in need of assistance and millions on the brink of famine.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in support of the government in the fight against Iran-backed rebels.

The Huthi rebels have been accused of the widespread and indiscriminate use of landmines, while the Saudi-led coalition has faced criticism for deadly air raids on civilians.

Yemen is a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, an international pact which came into force in 1999 and aims to eliminate landmines and clear up vast tracts of affected land.</s>MA’RIB, YEMEN: Officials at King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) have confirmed that at 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, 20 January, five demining experts working with the center’s MASAM project died in an accidental explosion in the Ma’rib governorate. The incident occurred when a vehicle carrying mines and other devices exploded while en route from MASAM’s headquarters to a remote location where the devices were to be destroyed. Although the names of those who died have not officially been released, a KSrelief spokesperson confirmed that their nationalities include two South Africans, one Croatian, one Bosnian and one Kosovan. A British national was also injured.

KSrelief joins with the rest of the international community in mourning the loss of these highly-committed professionals, and expresses its deepest condolences to their families. These brave members of the MASAM team lost their lives while attempting to bring safety and security to the Yemeni people, and their service to mankind will not be forgotten.

The Saudi Project to Demine Yemen, known as MASAM, began on 25 June 2018. The purpose of the program is to locate and destroy a wide range of explosive devices which were illegally planted by Houthi militias throughout Yemen during the ongoing conflict in the country. It is estimated that more than a million such devices have been deployed, causing injury and loss of life to thousands of Yemenis.

A full investigation into the tragic incident has been launched in coordination with MASAM project experts and local authorities, and more details will be released as soon as they are available.</s>Venezuela plunged deeper into turmoil Monday as security forces put down a pre-dawn uprising by national guardsmen that triggered violent street protests and the Supreme Court outlawed the opposition-controlled National Assembly’s defiant new leadership.

Diosdado Cabello, head of the ruling socialist party, said that 27 guardsmen were arrested and that more could be detained as the investigation unfolds.

The mutiny struck at a time when opposition leaders have regained momentum in their efforts to oust President Nicolás Maduro amid widespread food shortages and hyperinflation. They have been calling for a nationwide protest Wednesday, urging Venezuelans — especially members of the armed forces — to abandon Maduro.

Monday’s uprising triggered protests in a poor area a few miles from the presidential palace in Caracas. They were dispersed with tear gas as residents set fire to a barricade of trash and chanted demands that Maduro quit.

Hours later, the government-stacked Supreme Court said it was throwing out recent measures by the National Assembly declaring Maduro’s presidency illegitimate. The court also ruled the assembly’s new leadership invalid.

An Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Monday, marking the second attack against U.S. troops in less than a week and further highlighting the dangers surrounding U.S. plans to withdraw forces after a declaration that the extremist group had been defeated.

The attack happened at a checkpoint on the edge of the town of Shadadi in Hasakah province, on a road used by Kurdish fighters and the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants near the Iraqi border.

Col. Sean Ryan said there were no casualties among the U.S.-led coalition members. The Kurdish Hawar news agency, based in northern Syria, said two Kurdish fighters were lightly wounded.

Monday’s bombing came days after a suicide attack killed 19 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians, in the northern Syrian town of Manbij.

The Islamic State asserted responsibility for both attacks in statements carried by its Amaq News Agency.

Two Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessels caught fire in the Black Sea, leaving at least 14 sailors dead, Russian officials said Monday. Five were missing.

Russia’s Federal Agency for the Sea and River Transport said the fire erupted while fuel was being pumped from one tanker to another. The blaze spread from ship to ship, prompting the crews to jump overboard, Russian news agencies reported.

The news agencies quoted the federal maritime agency as saying the two vessels together had 31 crew members who are citizens of Turkey and India.

The maritime agency said rescue teams saved 12 sailors. A search was continuing.

7 killed at house in Mexican resort of Cancun: Authorities said three gunmen fatally shot seven people at a house in the Mexican resort of Cancun, in an apparent dispute between street-level drug dealers. The city, in Quintana Roo state, has been hit by rising violence. Alberto Capella, head of the state police, said the killers fled after the Sunday attack at a home away from the city's hotel zone. He said a suspected gang leader who has been linked to the Jalisco cartel was behind the killings.

Blast in Yemen kills 5 demining specialists: Five foreign demining specialists were killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen while transporting mines and explosives to be destroyed, their employer said. The MASAM Demining Project said two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovar were killed Sunday while transporting the explosives in Marib province.

Germany bans Iranian airline: Germany has revoked the license of an Iranian airline because it has been transporting military equipment and personnel to Syria and other Middle East war zones, the Foreign Ministry said, after heavy U.S. pressure on Berlin to act. The United States imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other aid to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.</s>You can't tell the story of Africans in America without talking about slavery and segregation. The struggle for social and racial justice continues today. So watch what happened when a group of young South Africans visited the American South to track the history of civil rights.</s>DUBAI: An explosion killed five demining specialists in war-torn Yemen´s central province of Maarib on Sunday, security and medical sources said.

A pro-government security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the the five were foreign experts working on the Saudi-backed Masam landmine clearance project. AFP could not independently confirm which countries they came from. The official said the blast occurred as landmines were being transported to be destroyed.

A medic at a Maarib hospital confirmed five bodies were brought to the hospital, adding that a number of other people were injured in the incident. The Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside the government could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Yemen conflict has killed some 10,000 people since the coalition intervened in support of the beleaguered authorities in March 2015, according to the World Health Organisation. The war has triggered what the United Nations calls the world´s worst humanitarian crisis.</s>DUBAI: An explosion killed five demining specialists in war-torn Yemen´s central province of Maarib on Sunday, security and medical sources said. A pro-government security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the the five were foreign experts working on the Saudi-backed Masam landmine clearance project. AFP could not independently confirm which countries they came from.

The official said the blast occurred as landmines were being transported to be destroyed. A medic at a Maarib hospital confirmed five bodies were brought to the hospital, adding that a number of other people were injured in the incident.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside the government could not immediately be reached for comment. The Yemen conflict has killed some 10,000 people since the coalition intervened in support of the beleaguered authorities in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

The war has triggered what the United Nations calls the world´s worst humanitarian crisis. Rights groups say both sides have committed potential war crimes. Huthi rebels have been accused of the widespread and indiscriminate use of landmines, while the Saudi-led coalition has faced criticism for deadly air raids on civilians. Yemen is a sigNatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, an international pact which came into force in 1999 and aims to eliminate landmines and clear up vast tracts of affected land.

The Masam landmine clearance project was launched in June 2018 by Saudi Arabia´s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief). A KSRelief spokesman could not immediately confirm the incident.
Five foreign demining experts, identified as two South Africans, one Croatian, one Bosnian and one Kosovar, are killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen.