Strikes on Yemen's largest airbase Sunday killed at least 30 pro-government troops and wounded scores more, said medical and loyalist sources who blamed Iran-backed Huthi rebels for the attack.

"More than 30 have been killed and at least 56 were injured," armed forces spokesman Mohammed al-Naqib, who had earlier accused the Huthis of being behind the attack, told AFP.

A military medic confirmed the death toll after it jumped from seven fatalities earlier in the day.