Yemeni troops killed five al-Qaeda militants after a string of attacks by militants on security personnel in south Yemen, the Defence Ministry said today.
The five militants were killed in the restive province of Abyan where suspected al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead eight soldiers and set ablaze a military vehicle yesterday, a ministry website said.
Most of the assaults since June have been claimed by al-Qaeda, which has stepped up attacks on security forces in recent months.
Al-Qaeda has said in statements released on Islamist websites that its attacks on Yemen government targets are due to enhanced US-Yemeni military cooperation against the group.
With US backing, Yemen is waging a crackdown on al-Qaeda, which has long made use of the Arabian Peninsula state's remote mountains and deserts to hide and set up training camps.
In a separate development, state media today said on Saturday that al-Qaeda militant Ali Hussein al-Tays, a former Guantanamo detainee, had surrendered to authorities.
In renewed unrest in northern Yemen, Shi'ite rebels killed two pro-government tribesmen, the Interior Ministry website reported late yesterday. There was no immediate comment on the incident from the rebels on their website.
Reuters
