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Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that officials said killed at least 61 people and wounded dozens more, one of the deadliest attacks in Yemen by the terror group as it asserts itself in the war-racked nation.
The bomber drove into a crowd of people at a military recruiting center in the southern city of Aden on Monday at close to 8 a.m. and detonated the vehicle, local security and medical officials said.
Islamic State, which claimed the attack in a statement distributed by its official Amaq news agency, frequently attacks security and government targets in Aden, home to the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The attack comes as Yemen’s conflict enters its 17th month. The war, which pits Mr. Hadi’s government and a Saudi-led military coalition against the Shiite Houthi rebels, created a security vacuum that has allowed extremist groups to thrive and expand.
Islamic State has carried out dozens of terror attacks targeting Mr. Hadi’s forces. But it hasn’t matched the size and influence in Yemen of established extremist rival al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A hospital in Aden run by Doctors Without Borders—the closest to the site of the explosion—had received 45 dead and at least 65 wounded in the attack, a spokeswoman for the medical aid group said.
The attack targeted Yemenis signing up to go to Saudi Arabia and fight the Houthis along the kingdom’s southern border with Yemen, according to local officials
Islamic State’s Yemeni offshoot emerged in late 2014, carrying out a series of attacks against the Houthis, considered apostates by the Sunni extremist groups.
Coordinated suicide bombings the following March at Shiite mosques in the capital, San’a, killed more than 100 people, the deadliest terror attacks in Yemen’s history.
An Islamic State suicide car bombing in May killed several dozen Yemeni recruits, while three coordinated suicide bombings at military checkpoints in March killed more than 25 people. Another of its car bombings in December killed Aden’s governor.
The conflict began in March last year, when Saudi Arabia assembled a coalition to fight the Houthis after they took over San’a, later sending Mr. Hadi into exile.
The United Nations has led efforts to find a political solution to the conflict. But they faltered this month, when extended talks in Kuwait ended without a final deal.
Saudi Arabia and its mostly Sunni Muslim allies see the Houthis as proxies of their regional rival, Shiite-majority Iran. Iran has rejected accusations that it sends arms to the Houthis, but Western navies have intercepted several arms-laden vessels this year thought to be bound for the group.
Backed by the Saudi coalition, forces allied to Mr. Hadi have in recent months made gains against Islamic State and AQAP, which both have a substantial presence in southern Yemen.
AQAP took over the southern city of Al Mukalla early in the conflict and made it a regional stronghold, basing itself there and providing government services until the coalition forced it from there in April.
With the peace process stalled, the Houthis have been working to solidify their control of governance from San’a, announcing a new political council in July. But the country’s humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating.
Some 3,800 civilians have been killed since the war started, according to U.N. estimates. Much of the country is on the brink of famine, the World Food Program has said.