Twin bombings targeting the Yemeni army in second city Aden on Monday killed at least 41 people, most of them would-be recruits, a military official said.

A suicide bomber killed 34 people queueing up to enlist at a recruitment centre near the Badr base in the Khormaksar district, said Brigadier General Nasser al-Sarei, commander of special security forces.

A second explosion went off inside the base afterwards, killing seven soldiers, the official said.

Aden is the headquarters of the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as it battles Shia rebels who control the capital and has seen a spate of attacks in recent months claimed by Al-Qaeda or its jihadist rival the Islamic State group.

Government forces drove Houthi rebels out of the city in July with support from a Saudi-led coalition.

The two jihadist groups exploited the power vacuum created by the conflict to expand their presence in the south and southeast.

But over the past two months, government and coalition forces have hit back, driving the jihadists out of Aden, as well as the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, which they had controlled for a year.