Yemen says blast at explosives factory kills at least 121

Update at 2:01 p.m. ET: CNN, quoting medical sources, reports that the death toll from the blast at an ammunition factory is at least 121. The hospital sources say the death toll is likely to rise.

Earlier posting: Yemeni officials say 78 people were killed in a blast at an explosives factory in a southern province after it was looted by civilians, the Associated Press reports.

Twenty-seven people were injured critically in addition to dozens of others wounded, the AP says.

Reuters quotes witnesses as saying the explosion erupted after residents of the town of Jaar, in Abyan province, broke into the factory to steal ammunition a day after clashes broke out between Islamist militants and the army.

Reuters, quoting doctors, put the death toll at about 55.

The AP, quoting unidentified military and security officials in the province, says that Sunday, Islamic fundamentalist militants took over the factory that makes explosives for road construction.

After the militants took what they wanted and left, the AP reports, locals broke in and began to loot it.