Update: 40 Yemeni soldiers killed in IS-claimed suicide bombings

The death toll from a series of suicide bombing attacks that struck military posts and an intelligence compound in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout rose to 40 deaths on Monday, Yemeni officials told Xinhua.

A source of the Fourth Regional Military Command based in Hadramout province said that a series of suicide bombings that targeted military checkpoints in different places in the city of Mukalla left about 40 soldiers killed and several others injured.

"About 40 were killed and dozens others injured according to the medical information coming from three public hospitals in Hadramout about the latest casualty figures of today's attacks," the source said.

Witnesses told Xinhua that three military checkpoints and an intelligence compound in the coastal city of Mukalla, Hadramout's provincial capital, were struck by huge blasts simultaneously.

The simultaneous explosions took place while the soldiers were gathering minutes before the time of breaking their day-long fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to witnesses.

An intelligence officer told Xinhua that "the bombers disguised as distributors of Iftar meals and delivered bombs wrapped up as food to soldiers in some checkpoints in Mukalla."

Another suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden motorbike and targeted a military intelligence building in the same city, according to the source.

A medical source confirmed to Xinhua saying that hospitals call for urgent blood donations due to the high number of casualties.

The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) claimed responsibility Monday for the four terrorists attacks on Yemeni military posts in Hadramout just minutes following the incidents.

The claim came in a short statement posted via Twitter by the group's semi-official Amaq news agency, the same channel that claimed the Paris, Brussels and Orlando attacks.

The agency affiliated with ISIS claimed that "the jihadist operations killed more than 54 soldiers of the counter-terrorism units and the elite forces in Hadramout."

The Yemeni government forces launched anti-terror offensives and drived out scores of gunmen linked to the al-Qaida and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State from key neighborhoods and government compounds in Lahj and Abyan provinces in the last two months. Endit