Suicide bombing kills at least 22 in Yemen

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At least 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a police academy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, an attack police investigators said bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida.

Medics said dozens of people were also injured in the attack, which appeared to have been timed to coincide with the cadets leaving the academy at the end of the school day.

Witnesses said police closed the scene of the attack and began investigating the blast as ambulances ferried casualties to a hospital.

The attack appeared to mirror a suicide bombing in May, when a suicide bomber in army uniform struck at the heart of Yemen's military establishment, killing more than 90 people during a rehearsal for an army parade in Sanaa.

That attack was claimed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which US officials have described as the most dangerous grouping of the global militant network.

Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida have vowed to carry their fight across Yemen after a US-backed military offensive in May drove them out of strongholds they took last year during protests against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule.

A number of attacks since the recent offensive indicate that the militants still pose a serious threat.

Also on Wednesday, the government announced that two al-Qaida militants who tunneled out of a prison last month were re-arrested in a southern province.

An Interior Ministry statement said the two were captured in al-Dhali province on Tuesday. It said they were among five militants who escaped from a prison in the western province of Hodeida on June 26.

It said one of the two, Nasser Ismail Ahmed Muttahar, was detained for taking part in an attack on the US Embassy in Sanaa in 2008.

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.