“These heinous criminal acts cannot be justified by any means,” said  Ban in a statement read out by his spokesperson at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

The two attacks occurred in Sana'a, the capital, and in the city of Mukalla in the eastern province of Hadramawt.

The Secretary-General underscored the importance of rapidly implementing the recently signed Peace and National Partnership Agreement and its Annex.

The Yemen Government and its opponents reached a peace pact last month, welcomed by the UN Security Council, which called for its full its full and immediate implementation, and an immediate end to all attacks and threats, and the rapid formation of a new government.

Yemen has recently emerged from a complex UN-backed transition, but the past few months have been marked by violence and unrest in some parts of the country, with thousands of Houthi people from the north descending on Sana’a.

A demonstration in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. Photo: IRIN/Adel Yahya (file)