More than 60 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in a series of powerful explosions at an ammunition factory in southern Yemen on Monday.
Militants reportedly seized the weapons factory in Jaar in the southern Abyan province on Sunday after fighting government forces.
The blasts in the defense depot, which manufactures munitions and Kalashnikov rifles, were so powerful that its impact could be felt 15 kilometers away, reports said. Cause of the blast was not known.
The death toll was feared to rise as bodies were still being recovered from the scene of the blasts, reports quoting witnesses and the country's medical authorities said.
The tragedy adds to the woes of a country rocked by weeks of political turmoil and deteriorating security.
Yemen is currently under a state of emergency, a move aimed at reinforcing the government's crackdown on mass demonstrations demanding an end to the decades-old rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries dominated by Sunni Muslims, is under the threat of rising secessionist sentiments in the south and tribal Shia rebellion in the north in addition to a wave of al-Qaeda attacks.
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