CAIRO: A car bomb exploded outside a mosque run by Yemen's Houthi group in the capital Sanaa Friday, residents said, going off as worshipers were leaving after midday prayers and injuring several of them.

There were no reports of casualties in the relatively rare attack in the city or an immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion by the Bilal mosque in western Sanaa.

Islamist militants have exploited Yemen's 16-month civil war between the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of President Abed-Rabbou Mansour Hadi, who is backed by a Saudi Arab coalition, to strike at both sides at will.

ISIS said it carried out an attack on a mosque in Sanaa last September that killed 10 worshippers.