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Deadly blast kills at least 30 in Yemen capital Sanaa Yemen car bomb kills dozens near Sanaa police academy
(about 3 hours later)
At least 30 people have been killed and many others injured by a blast outside a police college in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, security sources say. At least 33 people have been killed and 62 others injured by a car bomb blast outside a police academy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, officials say.
A car bomb was detonated beside people queuing to enrol in the police force, police officials said. The vehicle exploded beside dozens of cadets and people standing in line to enrol at the academy. Some unconfirmed reports said it was a suicide attack.
Witnesses said the blast was heard across the city and a large plume of smoke was seen. Afterwards, body parts and debris from the car were strewn across the street.
Yemen has been unstable since protests in 2011 forced then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office. There has so far been no claim of responsibility, but an offshoot of al-Qaeda has carried out similar attacks.
Photographs at the scene of Wednesday's explosion showed the wreckage of a vehicle. Bodies were seen lying in the street, witnesses said. Yemen has experienced a wave of violence in recent months, with militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) battling Shia Houthi rebels who have taken control of the capital.
Local journalist Nasser Arrabyee told the BBC that a suicide bomber drove his car into the queue of students, who had come from all over the country for the fourth and busiest day of the recruitment drive. 'Catastrophic situation'
Mr Arrabyee said that police estimated that as many as 40 people had been killed and 100 injured. Wednesday's bombing took place early in the morning in a central part of Sanaa near the central bank and the defence ministry building.
No group has so far said it was behind the blast. However, jihadist militants belonging to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have in the past targeted the security forces. The explosion was heard across the city and a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the scene.
Yemen has been plagued by instability since the start of anti-government protests in 2011, which resulted in President Saleh standing down in 2012 after 33 years in power. The victims included many cadets at the police academy and people who had been waiting in line to enrol, as well as passersby, officials said.
Since then ministers have battled a growing al-Qaeda presence, often with the help of US drone strikes. "We were all gathering and... [the car] exploded right next to all of the police college classmates," Jamil al-Khaleedi told the Associated Press.
In November a new cabinet was formed in an effort to defuse mounting political tensions. "It went off among all of them."
The 24-strong administration, headed by Prime Minister-Designate Khalid Bahah, includes Shia Houthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September. A paramedic at the scene described the situation as "catastrophic".
The security forces meanwhile have been fighting AQAP, in November killing one of its senior commanders in what correspondents said was a significant blow for the organisation. "We arrived to find bodies piled on top of each other," he told Reuters news agency.
The US embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying it "reveals the nihilistic vision and depravity of terror groups operating in Yemen".
Weak government
Yemeni security forces personnel have been targeted many times by AQAP in the past four years. A suicide bomber killed more than 90 people in 2012 at a military parade in the capital and an assault on a military hospital a year ago left more than 50 dead.
The jihadist group has exploited the chaos and instability that has resulted from the uprising that forced longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2011.
His successor, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, has ordered a series of military offensives on AQAP strongholds, but its members have been able to withdraw to remote, mountainous regions where they are protected by local tribes wary of the government.
President Hadi has also been weakened by the Houthi rebels from the northern province of Saada, who triggered a political crisis in September when they overran security forces in the capital and forced him to form technocratic government and reverse unpopular subsidy cuts.
The rebels were supposed to withdraw from Sanaa, but they have instead expanded their presence in central and western Yemen, triggering fierce clashes with AQAP and Sunni tribesmen.
Last week, a suicide bomb attack on Houthi supporters in Ibb left as many as 49 people dead.
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