United Nations, October 10 (RHC)-- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned two deadly terrorist attacks in Yemen. The UN chief slammed the two separate deadly bomb attacks in a statement on Thursday, saying, “These heinous criminal acts cannot be justified by any means.”

The two attacks took place in the capital Sana'a and in the city of Mukalla in Hadramawt province. The deadly attack in the capital left 47 people, including children, dead and 75 others injured. The second attack in Mukalla killed 20 soldiers and wounded 15 people.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the al-Qaeda group in Yemen is widely suspected in both attacks. The terrorist group has previously threatened that it would target Yemen’s Houthi movement.

The deadly attacks came after a peace deal was struck between the Yemeni government and Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Shia Houthi movement on September 21st. The peace deal was signed after the revolutionaries took over Sana’a following weeklong clashes with Salafist militants backed by Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who is the stepbrother of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Ansarullah activists played a key role in the ouster of Saleh in 2012.