SANA, Yemen — A pair of bombings carried out by Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in Yemen’s southern city of Aden on Monday, targeting young men seeking to join the army who gathered at two recruitment centers, security officials said.

One suicide car bomber killed at least 20, while a second bomber on foot detonated an explosives vest at the other recruitment center, killing at least 25.

The local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility for two attacks in a statement posted on social media networks by sympathizers, saying a native of Aden it identified as Abu Ali al-Adani was responsible for one of them.

It posted a picture of a man using crutches approaching the center, followed by before and after shots of the explosion site.

It said that it also detonated an ‘explosive device’ in another location, and that at least 30 people were killed in the two strikes.

Yemen has for nearly two years been gripped by a war pitting the internationally recognized government against Shi’ite rebels who control the capital, Sana, and are allied with forces loyal to a former president.

The country is also home to active Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates.

Monday’s blasts underline the precarious security situation in Aden, the country’s main port on the Arabian Sea, several months after government forces and allied militiamen backed by a Saudi-led coalition retook the city from the Shi’ite rebels, also known as the Houthis.

Associated Press