The bloodshed came as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that Yemen`s political "instability and diversion of attention from dealing with AQAP," Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was a "primary concern" to Washington.
"Thirteen Al-Qaeda militants have been killed in ongoing clashes with the army in the town of Loder" in Abyan province, said the local official.
Earlier on Tuesday, a security official gave a casualty toll of two Al-Qaeda militants dead and five soldiers wounded after "a group of Al-Qaeda elements surrounded an army unit."
Both sides used "artillery and machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades" in the confrontation, said the official.
Last Thursday, Al-Qaeda fighters attacked a security post in the eastern province of Marib, sparking a clash in which three militants and two policemen were killed, officials said.
Yemeni security forces on March 17 also arrested two Al-Qaeda members, including a local chief of the network, in Taez, south of Sanaa, a security official said.
He identified one of those arrested as Khaled Saeed Baterfi, an Al-Qaedaleader in Abyan.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader bin Laden and has been the scene of several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
A major US ally in its fight against Al-Qaeda, Yemen is grappling with escalating anti-regime protests which have caused a rift within the military, a secessionist movement in the country`s south and a northern rebellion.(*)
(U.S008)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
