The explosion blew a crater in the road, took chunks out of nearby walls and left debris strewn across the street.
Advertisement
IS posted a statement online saying its Yemeni affiliate was behind the attack.
The group has repeatedly targeted Houthis in Yemen.
On June 17, the IS claimed to have launched four auto bombing attacks against three mosques and a Houthi office in Sanaa, in which 18 people were killed and dozens wounded.
The jihadist group, which marked the first anniversary of the declaration of its “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria on Monday, has been ramping up its deadly campaign in Yemen since March.
Luqman said the attack hit the base, which is about 450 km (280 miles) south of the Saudi capital Riyadh.
And it is still regarded as the network’s most unsafe branch by Washington, which has kept up a drone war against in Mukalla.
But analysts said that Daesh was now clearly in the ascendant.
IS is “in the process of supplanting AQAP, which is becoming just one of a number of forces in the tribal camp in southern Yemen”, said Mathieu Guidere, professor at France’s University of Toulouse.
Reports of a Scud missile attack – the second in a month – undermined Saudi claims that it has successfully destroyed the Houthis’ missile arsenal back in April.
“We’re not aware of anything”. If confirmed, this would be the furthest into Saudi territory that any missile fired by Yemen has traveled in the current conflict.
San’a Province made headlines in March, when it claimed twin suicide bombings at Shiite mosques in San’a that killed more than 130 people.
Yemen’s port city of Aden has been under Houthi fire in recent days, according to officials.
The rights group said Tuesday its investigators visited on May 15-16 during a humanitarian cease-fire and compiled the names of 59 people killed in aerial attacks, including at least 35 children. But they have failed to wrest control of San’a or other parts of Yemen from the rebels.
Advertisement
Saudi-led aircraft carried out 20 strikes in support of loyalists, a local official said.
