Sanna: At least 37 people were killed and dozens of others wounded early Wednesday when a car bomb exploded outside the police academy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, the official Saba news agency reported.
“This toll is according to the latest information that compiled by the police services until afternoon,” the agency reported, citing Brig. Abdulaziz al-Qadsi, the deputy general manager of Sanaa police.
According to an earlier report, at least 50 people were killed and dozens of others wounded early Wednesday, security officials and medics said.
Al-Qadsi said the victims were soldiers of the interior ministry and seek to join the police academy to get a promotion.
“High school graduates were in the south part of the academy and faraway from the scene when the bombing occurred,” he said, adding that 66 others were critically wounded and being treated in several hospitals in the capital.
However, medics in three hospitals near the police academy told Xinhua that the toll from the car bombing reached at least 50 and about 100 people were wounded, many of them in critical condition. They said the toll may rise.
“According to the initial investigation, the booby-trapped car was a mini bus with a driver and passenger in the front. They left the car at the western wall of the academy where the soldiers were lining up in the morning,” al-Qadsi said, adding that the driver and passenger then ran away and the car exploded at 7 a.m.
Abduljabar Qasim, one of the applicants said that they were searched by the police and moved Tuesday night inside the police club, which locates in the adjacent building.
“But after midnight, they ordered us to get outside the club and line up along the wall of the police academy,” he said. “We spent hours crowding alongside the wall waiting for them to allow us to register in the academy in the morning…then the bombing happened,” he added.
Police forces cordoned-off the whole area and closed the roads around the academy for hours before opening it later.
In the meantime, the interior ministry issued a statement condemning the terrorist bombing and vowing to bring those responsible to justice. The ministry also suspended the registration at the police academy for a week until the police finish investigation.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing attack, but such attacks were always carried out by Al Qaeda militants, according to interior ministry officials.
It is the most deadly attack in Sanaa since Oct 9, 2014, when an Al Qaeda suicide bomber blew himself up at a gathering of the Shiite Houthi group, killing at least 47 people.
On June 11, 2012, an Al Qaida suicide bomber attacked this police academy, killing at least 21 people.
Security situation in the impoverished Arab country has been worsened since the Shiite militia controlled Sanaa Sep 21, 2014 by force.
The Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, has conducted recently several bomb attacks against the Houthi group, government and army, killing scores of people.
On Monday, an explosive device went off at an office of the Shiite Houthi group in western Sanaa, wounding two people and damaging nearby houses.
Last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite Houthi religious ceremony in the southern province of Ibb, killing 33 Houthi followers and injuring dozens.
On Dec 16, a car bombing attack against a Houthi office in the province of al-Bayda killed 40 people, including 20 children. Two days later, a suicide car bombing attack in the western port city of al-Hodayda, left 18 dead, most Houthi followers.
Fierce fighting between the group and the AQAP in the central and southern regions has forced hundreds of people to flee to neighbouring provinces.
So far, the Houthi group has clashed with the AQAP several times in the provinces of Marib, al-Bayda, Ibb and Hadramout, leaving dozens dead from both sides.