A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group and a second blast killed 47 police on Sunday in the Yemeni port of Mukalla, where a year of al-Qaida rule ended last month, medics said.

It was the second attack in days claimed by IS in the city of 200,000 people that was recaptured by government forces from the rival jihadists of al-Qaida with US backing.

The suicide bomber killed at least 41 police recruits on the southwestern outskirts of the city, the capital of Hadramawt province, medics said after earlier giving a toll of 31 dead.