Reports say that at least seventeen people have been killed in Yemen when a car bomb struck a religious procession in a Houthi rebel bastion of north Yemen today. Media reports quoted Houthi rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam as saying that Seventeen people have been killed and 15 wounded in the car bombing that targeted a Shiite procession in Al-Jawf province. The incident occurred when a suicide bomber driving a four-wheel drive vehicle blew himself, up alongside the procession. The attack targeted the faithful who were preparing to mark Al-Ghadeer which has long been a source of contention between the Sunni and Shiite branches of the faith. Provincial tribal chief and his son are among the dead. The mountains in the west of Al-Jawf province and neighbouring Saada have been a stronghold of Zaidi Shiite rebels in the uprising they have been waging against the Yemen government for the past six years. The Yemeni army launched a major offensive against the rebels in August last year, which ended with an uneasy truce in February mediated by Qatar. Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden where government is under increasing pressure to contain the influence of al Qaida in the country.