Blast kills at least 23 at Yemen military base

SANAA, Yemen—An explosion on Sunday morning outside a military camp near the southern Yemeni city of Aden has killed at least 23 people, according to Yemeni officials.

The officials tell The Associated Press that the explosion is suspected of being the work of a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The camp where the explosion took place is the same military base that was struck by another suicide bomber on Dec. 10, killing at least 45 soldiers and wounding at least 50.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.

However, the Islamic State group’s Yemeni affiliate claimed responsibility for the Dec. 10 bombing.

In addition to IS, Yemen is the longtime home to an active branch of al-Qaeda, widely regarded as the most dangerous affiliate of the international extremist group.

Aden is controlled by a loose coalition of troops loyal to the internationally recog- nized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, local militias and jihadi groups.

They are battling Shiite rebels, who seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and later swept much of northern Yemen.

Their advances forced Hadi to flee the country and seek shelter in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition, mostly consisting of Gulf Arab states, subsequently intervened in Yemen, launching a punishing air campaign against the rebels and their allies.