The aftermath when a suicide bomber in the northern Sadah governate detonates himself upon discovery by Shiite protesters. The governate has been unsettled by civil war between Shia and Sunni in the wake of the Yemen revolution, starting when the Shiites of Sadah attacked a Sunni school Dar Al-Hadeeth. Although the school itself renounces suicide bombers, the conflict has attracted others willing to use the tactic. Also showing the complexity of the revolution, the school did not support the revolution, yet the revolutionaries mostly supported the school and the Sunnis against the nominally pro-revolution Houthis who have been responsible for six previous civil wars in recent years. The shiites are accused by many of the revolutionaries of being treachorous to the uprising, using it to militarily expand territory under their control. The Shiites (known as Houthis after the main tribe) were exposed by the revolutionaries for trying to expand their control as far as the Red Sea coast in order to be able to accept Iranian arms shipments.

The school was under a barbaric siege for months which prevented entry of food and medicine, and suffered constant shelling of student's homes which resulted in dozens of foreigners being killed by the Shiites. However, although these were unprovoked crimes against humanity, it passed with very little international condemnation.