2012 Sana'a bombing

The 2012 Sana'a bombing was a suicide attack on 21 May 2012, against Yemeni Army soldiers practicing for the annual Unity Day military parade in Sana'a, Yemen. The ceremony is carried out every year on 22 May since 1990 to mark the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen as the Republic of Yemen. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) affiliate Ansar al-Sharia.

The suicide bombing came 10 days into an army offensive against al-Qaeda in Yemen’s restive southern Abyan province, where the AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) have seized control of a string of towns and cities in attacks launched since May 2011. According to witnesses and Yemeni officials, the Yemeni government had intensified its offensive against Al Qaeda in southern Yemen in the week prior to the attack with combined air and ground assaults leaving dozens of casualties, among them civilians. It also follows suspected U.S. drone bombings in Yemen, which AQAP said the attack was in retaliation for and, at the same time, AQAP have used instability over the 2011-2012 Yemeni uprising to take control of swathes of southern Yemen.

The attack took place in al-Sabin Square, near Yemen's presidential palace, as soldiers were arranging themselves in a parade rehearsal for the upcoming Unity Day ceremonies. According to Yemeni security officials, the bomber was a rogue soldier participating in the drill wearing a belt of explosives. Early reports suggested a few dozen casualties, but by the early afternoon the confirmed death toll was at 90, with at least 222 injured. Security officials stated that the attacker had detonated his explosives shortly before Defence Minister Muhammad Nasir Ahmad Ali and the army chief-of-staff were expected to greet the troops. The attack resulted in "horrific carnage", with one witness describing "arms and legs scattered on the ground ... The wounded people were piled on top of each other, covered with blood." Another soldier who had been present for the attack called it a "massacre", stating "I have never seen such a bloody day in my life". Al-Arabiya reported on 96 dead and over 300 injured in the blast. Later in the day the casualty toll was raised yet again, this time to over 120 killed and nearly 350 injured, some of them critically.