Updated | 29 killed, scores injured in Yemen defense ministry blast

At least 29 people were killed and a further 70 were injured in a series of attacks outside the Ministry of Defense building in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday morning, Defense Ministry officials and witnesses said.

A suicide car bomb blew up at the gates of the complex and heavy gunfire ensued at a hospital inside.

"The attack took place shortly after working hours started at the ministry when a suicide bomber drove a car into the gate," a ministry official said.

Officials said that assailants armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades then opened fire at the complex and a battle involving gunmen ensued. The gunmen occupied a hospital at the complex, they added, but security forces later regained control of the building, which was badly damaged.

"The assailants took advantage of some construction work that is taking place to carry out this criminal act," the defense ministry said.

The explosion was powerful enough to damage neighbouring structures and was heard hundreds of metres away.

Medical sources have confirmed that at least two foreign medical staff are among the dead.

No group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack but news agencies have said that it bears the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attack.

Yemeni security forces are fighting regional rebels and al-Qaeda, while combating lawlessness and army splits.

The incident comes aid tight security in the last few weeks following a series of hit-and-run attacks on officials by militants on motorbikes, blamed on AQAP.