Aden, May 15 (IANS): At least 30 people were killed on Sunday in a suicide bombing in Yemen's Hadramout province.

The bomb attack occurred near the gate of a police recruitment centre. Another 70 people were injured, Xinhua news agency quoted a source as saying.

The Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"About 40 people were killed when an IS fighter detonated his explosive belt inside a military base in Mukalla," an IS statement said on Twitter.

The toll was expected to rise further.

Yemen has been gripped by one of the most active regional Al Qaeda militancy in the Middle East.

The Yemen-based Al Qaeda offshoot, also known as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

The fragile security situation in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015 when a war broke out between the Shia Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians.