SANAA: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a police academy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing at least six cadets and wounding dozens more, a senior official said, revising an earlier toll.
"After the victims were transferred, it became clear that the attack killed six people, and wounded dozens of others," the official in charge of the investigation told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said the toll "could rise as several of the wounded were in critical condition," adding that all the dead and most of the injured were police cadets.
Earlier, a security official said at least 20 people were killed in the attack.
Dozens of ambulances rushed to the scene to evacuate the casualties, witnesses said, adding that the blast took place at a seldom used southern entrance of the academy.
At least 4000 cadets study at the police academy in Sanaa, and according to witnesses, hundreds of them were leaving from the southern gate at the time of the blast to head home for the weekend.
Another security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomber detonated his explosives after "arriving in a vehicle" at one of the academy's entrances.
One witness said the bomber had arrived in a taxi, which was "blown to pieces in the blast."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Wednesday's blast is the second deadliest in the capital since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took power in February pledging to destroy Al-Qaeda's presence in the country.
The police academy is located near Sabeen Square where on May 21, a Yemeni soldier, packing powerful explosives under his uniform, blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion.
Al-Qaeda claimed it was behind that attack that killed more than 100 troops and wounded more than 300 others.
On June 23, Yemeni troops seized Al-Qaeda's last bastion in the country's troubled southern and eastern provinces after a month-long offensive aimed at ousting the jihadists from territory they had controlled for about a year.
Taking advantage of a central government weakened by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising last year, the militants had overrun most of Yemen's southern Abyan province, capturing its capital Zinjibar, towns like Jaar, Shuqra and several other villages.
Since their defeat, however, Al-Qaeda has pledged to seek revenge.
Late last month, an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber killed Yemen's army commander for the south, General Salem Ali Qoton, who had led the offensive against the militants.
Two other senior Yemeni security officials have been targeted for assassination since.
On July 4, a Yemeni police chief in Sanaa narrowly escaped an attempt on his life when explosives planted in his car blew up just minutes after he exited the vehicle.
Days earlier, intelligence officer Mohammed al-Qudami was killed by a bomb planted under the seat of his car.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts but officials have said that the attacks bear the hallmark of Al-Qaeda.
The militants have also left mines in the cities and towns they fled that have so far claimed the lives of dozens.
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