A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group and a second blast killed 47 police today in the Yemeni port of Mukalla where a year of Al-Qaeda rule ended last month, medics said.
It was the second attack in days claimed by IS in the city of 200,000 people that was recaptured by government forces from the rival jihadists of Al-Qaeda with US backing.
The suicide bomber killed at least 41 police recruits on the southwestern outskirts of the city, the capital of Hadramawt province, medics said after earlier giving a toll of 31 dead.
The bomber detonated an explosives belt after joining a line of men at a police recruiting centre, a provincial official said.
More than 50 people were also wounded in the attack in Fuwah district, a medical source said.
Hadramawt's security chief, General Mubarak al-Oubthani, was at the recruitment centre at the time of the attack but was not hurt.
However, he was the target of a second bombing afterwards as he was preparing to head into central Mukalla, a security official said.
The bomb exploded as Oubthani walked out of his office, killing six of his guards but leaving him with only minor injuries, the official said.
An IS statement posted online claimed the suicide attack, a second rare operation by the jihadist group in an area known to be a stronghold of its Al-Qaeda rivals.
"Brother Abu al-Bara al-Ansari... Detonated his explosives belt at a gathering of the apostates of the security forces," it said.
On Thursday, 15 soldiers were killed in jihadist attacks outside Mukalla. IS said one of its militants blew up a vehicle packed with explosives in an army base in Khalf district on the city's eastern outskirts.
