Deadly blast hits Yemen capital

A car bomb exploded outside a police college in Yemen's capital Sanaa early on Wednesday, killing around 30 people and wounding more than 50 others, police sources and residents said. Reuters reports:

Security in Yemen has diminished since a 2011 popular uprising that led to a change of government and splits in the army. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the movement's most active wings, has staged a growing number of bombings and shootings across the country.

The victims from Wednesday's blast included students at the college and people waiting in line to enroll with the police, the police sources said, as well as passers by.

Ambulances were transporting casualties away from the scene of the blast, and bodies were seen lying in the street, witnesses said.

The explosion was heard across the city and a large plume of smoke was visible in the area of the college.

Wednesday's bombing took place early in the morning in a central part of Sanaa near the central bank and the defence ministry building. The explosion was heard across the city and a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the scene. The BBC reports:

The victims included many cadets at the police academy and people who had been waiting in line to enrol, as well as passersby, officials said. "We were all gathering and... [the car] exploded right next to all of the police college classmates," Jamil al-Khaleedi told the Associated Press. "It went off among all of them."

A paramedic at the scene described the situation as "catastrophic".

"We arrived to find bodies piled on top of each other," he told Reuters news agency.

Weak government Yemeni security forces personnel have been targeted many times by AQAP in the past four years. A suicide bomber killed more than 90 people in 2012 at a military parade in the capital and an assault on a military hospital a year ago left more than 50 dead.

The jihadist group has exploited the chaos and instability that has resulted from the uprising that forced longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2011.