At least 60 people were killed and scores injured in a suicide-bomb attack targeting security forces in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday, media reports citing unnamed security officials said.
According to the reports, the bomber wearing military uniform detonated his explosive-packed vest in the midst of soldiers practising for a military parade to mark the National Unity Day on Tuesday.
Yemen celebrates the National Unity Day every year to mark the anniversary of the unification of the Marxist People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, also known as South Yemen, and the Yemen Arab Republic, known as North Yemen, in 1990.
Monday's incident took place as the soldiers were marching through Sanaa's Sabin Square close to the presidential palace. Some media reports suggested that the death toll in the attack may be as high as 100.
A weak government led by President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi is struggling to enforce order in the largely lawless country since his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in February under a peace initiative mediated by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Incidentally, al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have established themselves in Yemen's southern and south-eastern regions, taking advantage of the instability triggered by the year-long uprising that eventually ousted Saleh.
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