SANAA — A bomb tore through the side of a bus carrying Yemeni air force personnel to their base in the capital Sanaa on Sunday, Aug. 25, killing at least one officer and wounding several others, state media reported.

Witnesses told Reuters that as many as six people died when the device, planted on the vehicle, exploded and blew passengers’ bodies into the street, but that higher toll could not be confirmed.

A policeman (L) and air force officers gather at the site of a bomb attack on a military bus in Sanaa August 25, 2013. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Separately, Yemeni police said they foiled a plot to carry out a suicide bombing inside a U.S. language institute in Sanaa. An institute spokesman denied the report, saying a small incident involving the arrest of a motorcyclist trying to travel on a closed road that had been blown out of proportion.

Yemen is battling a number of armed groups, including al Qaeda fighters, who Washington said this month could be planning attacks.

Yemen’s security personnel have been targeted by Islamist militants, although most of the attacks have taken place in the largely lawless south and east of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Regarding Sunday’s bombing, the air force spokesman told Saba news agency: “This cowardly terrorist act resulted in the martyrdom of one person and injured a number of others, several of whom are in a serious condition. They have all been transferred to the hospital.”