Yemen car bomb kills dozens near Sanaa police academy

Nasser Arrabyee, a journalist in Yemen, described the scene in Sanaa

At least 33 people were killed and 62 others injured in a suicide car bomb outside a police academy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, officials say.

The vehicle exploded next to dozens of cadets and people waiting in line to register at the university. Unconfirmed reports have said it was a suicide bombing.

Thereafter, the body parts and debris from the car were scattered on the road.

There is to date no claim of responsibility but an offshoot of al-Qaeda has carried out similar attacks.

Yemen has experienced a wave of violence in recent months, with al-Qaida militants in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fights against Shiite Houthi rebels have taken control of the capital.

'Catastrophic situation'

Wednesday attack took place in the early morning in a central part near Sanaa Central Bank and the building of the Ministry of Defence.

The police took photos of victims who had hoped to enroll in the police academy

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, although Al Qaeda has carried out similar attacks

Yemen plagued by instability since the beginning of anti-government protests in 2011

The explosion was heard throughout the city and a large plume of smoke could be seen rising from the scene.

The victims included many cadets at the Police Academy and the people who are part of the line, as well as passers-by had expected, officials said.

"We were collect all the ... [the car] exploded right next to all police academy classmates," said Jamil al-Khaleedi The Associated Press.

"It was in all of them."

An ambulance to the scene, described the situation as "catastrophic".

"We came to bodies stacked to find," he told the Reuters news agency.

The US Embassy in Yemen condemned the attack and said it "reveals the nihilistic vision and depravity of terrorist groups in Yemen."

Weak government

Yemeni security forces targeted in the past four years several times by AQAP. A suicide bomber killed more than 90 people in 2012 during a military parade in the capital and an attack against a military hospital a year ago, leaving more than 50 dead.

Jihadist group chaos and instability that forced lifting, longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, led by the power used.

His successor, Mansur Hadi Abdrabbuh ordered a series of military offensives on castles AQAP, but its members able to remote mountainous areas where they withdraw protected by local tribes are wary of government.

President Hadi also has Houthi rebels in the northern province of Saada, which triggered a political crisis in September, when they invaded the security forces in the capital, forcing it to form a technocratic government and reverse the decline in subsidies weakened unpopular.

The rebels must withdraw from Sanaa, but they have their presence in the center and south of Yemen, triggering violent clashes with AQAP and Sunni tribes.

Last week, a suicide attack against supporters of al-Houthi in Ibb leave as much as 49 people were killed.