A suicide bomber killed 35 Yemeni soldiers and wounded around 50 on Saturday at a military camp in the country's southern city of Aden, military and medical sources said.

The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bomber detonated his explosives belt as hundreds of troops gathered to receive their monthly pay at the barracks in Al-Sawlaban near the city's international airport, a military source said.

“A martyr from the IS detonated his explosives belt in Al-Sawlaban military camp in Aden during a gathering of the Yemeni army,” the IS-affiliated Amaq news outlet said.

Yemeni authorities have for months pressed a campaign against militants who remain active in the south and east of the war-torn country.

IS and its rival Al-Qaeda have taken advantage of a conflict between the government and the Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, to bolster their presence across much of the south.

The two groups have carried out a spate of attacks in Aden, Yemen's second city and headquarters of the internationally recognised government whose forces retook the port from the Huthis last year.

Al-Qaeda has long been the dominant force in Yemen, located next to oil-flush Saudi Arabia and key shipping lanes, but experts say IS is seeking to supplant its extremist rival.

In August an IS militant rammed his explosives-laden car into an army recruiting centre in Aden, killing 71 people in the deadliest attack on the city in over a year.

On Monday, Yemeni authorities arrested eight suspected IS militants implicated in a spate of attacks targeting security personnel in the city this year.

A Saudi-led coalition has since March 2015 supported loyalist forces fighting the Huthis.