Up to 13 soldiers were killed while several others wounded in a suicide car bombing that targeted the military police headquarters in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Sunday afternoon, a government official told Xinhua.
The attack occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car at the military police headquarters in the coastal city of Mukalla, Hadramout's provincial capital, leaving 13 soldiers dead and several others injured, the local government official said on condition of anonymity.
The toll could rise as ambulances, police and civilian vehicles evacuated the casualties to hospitals and medical centers in Mukalla city, the source added.
The explosion left huge losses to nearby residential buildings and a number of police and civilian vehicles were damaged at the scene, according to the official.
A medical source at Ibn Sina Hospital confirmed the casualties, saying they have received 13 bodies and several people for treatment. Senior police officer were among the dead.
A security official in Hadramout told Xinhua anonymously that " the soldiers were unable to stop the car from dashing toward the main gate and the explosion caused major damage to the Military Police Forces headquarters in Mukalla."
Hours after the huge explosion, smoke and ashes from the explosion can still be seen pouring into the neighborhood Joul Masah in Mukall city, local residents said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack and Yemeni military authorities have yet to comment.
On Saturday night, three people were wounded in a bomb blast near a house belonging to Yemen's President Abd- Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the southern port city of Aden.
Militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot have been blamed by the country's government for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the country's southern regions.
Earlier on Thursday the Yemeni Defense Ministry announced that army troops dislodged scores of al-Qaida militants from their last bastion in the southeastern province of Shabwa after two weeks of fighting.