Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم: Yemeni Car Bomb at Police Academy Claims More than 31

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Yemeni Car Bomb at Police Academy Claims More than 31 - Updated

Local Editor

Yemen: Sanaa bombing

A car bomb blast tore through dozens of Yemenis lined up at a police academy in Sanaa on Wednesday, killing more than 30 in the latest attack highlighting the country's growing instability.

Official news agency Saba quoted the interior ministry as saying at least 31 people had died and dozens were wounded in what it described as the "terrorist bombing" targeting potential police recruits.

Yemen has been hit by a wave of violence in recent months, with a powerful opposition group, named the Huthis, batteling with terrorist gunmen and the country's branch of Al-Qaeda, who try to destabilize the country and carry out terrorist attacks between now and then across the country.

Witness Khaled Ajlan said the early morning blast targeted a group of about 60 "new students who were registering at the police academy".

The charred remains of the dead, mostly young men, were piled on the sidewalk outside the academy alongside blood-soaked documents they had been carrying.

The wreckage of a car - presumably the one used in the attack - sat nearby, with little remaining but mangled metal and the steering wheel, while rescue workers loaded bodies into the back of ambulances.

The health ministry issued alerts to Sanaa residents urging them to "donate blood at government hospitals to help the wounded".

It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast but Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the terrorist network's powerful affiliate in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for previous such attacks on security forces.

Speaking to AFP at the scene, a member of the Huthi security forces accused "radicals belonging to Al-Qaeda" of carrying out the attack.

The interior ministry said registration at the academy would be suspended for a week.