A military official said six troops were killed and four others wounded near Marib, east of the capital, when their road convoy came under attack. An army vehicle was incinerated and two others were seized.
"The attack was led by Aaed al-Shabwani, the most prominent wanted Al-Qaeda leader in Marib," a tribal source said.
A seventh Yemeni soldier was killed on Sunday in a clash between security forces and Al-Qaeda suspects outside a government building in the south of the country, a security said.
The soldier was on guard duty outside the building in Jaar, a town in Abyan province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda`s franchise in Yemen, the official said.
Separately in Jaar, a militant "from Al-Qaeda" was wounded in clashes with security forces and gunmen who overran several police posts and the local radio station, the official said.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, could be close to launching an attack, capitalising on unrest roiling the country, according to US spy agencies.
Yemen`s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for more than 30 years, has been a key US ally in its fight against AQAP, which last year launched a failed plot to dispatch parcel bombs on US-bound cargo planes. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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