Blast hits bus carrying air force members in Yemen

A powerful explosion ripped through a bus carrying members of Yemen’s air force down a main street in the capital city of Sanaa on Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding at least 20.

There was no indication as to whether the blast was caused by a suicide bombing or a device planted on the bus, although security forces described the explosion as a “terrorist attack.”

It was not immediately clear where the bus was heading when the blast occurred.

Meanwhile in a separate incident on the same day, security forces said they foiled an attack by a would-be suicide bomber on an English language school founded by the US embassy in Sanaa.

The assailant, 20, was caught after he hurled a grenade that failed to explode at the Yemen-America Language Institute in the country's capital, the official said. Further details related to the incident were not immediately available and the institute denied that it had been targeted. 

Yemen’s government has been battling groups linked to al-Qaeda, which regularly targets the country’s military.

The roof of the exploded vehicle was ripped apart and its sides blown out. Seats and debris were scattered on the pavement beside the dead or wounded.

Ameen Saree, an air force officer who rushed to the scene, said a bomb had been planted in the vehicle.

"The bomb exploded in the rear part of the bus and six of our colleagues were immediately killed," Saree told Reuters. "The rest have been injured and are being treated in hospitals."

Yemen has been gripped by turmoil since pro-democracy protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke out in early 2011.

The United States closed 19 of its consulates and embassies in several Arab and Muslim countries, including Yemen, amid what American officials said was a threat of an imminent al-Qaeda attack three weeks ago.

It only reopened the embassy in Sanaa on Tuesday, although other missions had already reopened.

Britain and France also shut their embassies in Yemen following the U.S. move, but they later reopened them.

Al Jazeera and wire services