At
least 30 people have been killed and many others injured by a blast outside a
police college in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, securitysources
say. A car
bomb was detonated beside people queuing to enrol in the police force, police
officials said. Continue..
Witnesses
said the blast was heard across the city and a large plume of smoke was seen.
Yemen
has been unstable since protests in 2011 forced then-President Ali Abdullah
Saleh from office.
Photographs
at the scene of Wednesday's explosion showed the wreckage of a vehicle. Bodies
were seen lying in the street, witnesses said.
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.
Mr
Arrabyee said that police estimated that as many as 40 people had been killed
and 100 injured.
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.
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.
Since
then ministers have battled a growing al-Qaeda presence, often with the help of
US drone strikes.
In
November a new cabinet was formed in an effort to defuse mounting political
tensions.
The
24-strong administration, headed by Prime Minister-Designate Khalid Bahah,
includes Shia Houthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September.
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.
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