Surprise attack kills 35 Yemen soldiers

ADEN: A suicide bomber killed 35 soldiers and wounded around 50 others Saturday at a military camp in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, where rebels are active, military and medical sources said.

The attacker detonated his explosives belt as hundreds of troops gathered to receive their monthly pay at the barracks in Al-Sawlaban near the city’s international airport, a military source said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Yemeni authorities have for months pressed a campaign against fighters who remain active in the south and east of the war-torn country.

The IS group and its rival Al-Qaeda have taken advantage of a conflict between the government and the Ansar Allah, who control the capital Sanaa, to bolster their presence across much of the south. IS and Al-Qaeda have carried out a spate of attacks in Aden, Yemen’s second city and headquarters of the internationally recognised government, whose forces retook the port from Ansar Allah last year.

Al-Qaeda has long been the dominant force in Yemen, located next to Saudi Arabia and key shipping lanes, but experts say IS is seeking to supplant its extremist rival. In August an IS militant rammed his explosives-laden car into an army recruiting centre in Aden.