"Five soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in heavy fighting with Al-Qaeda militants in Zinjibar`s east," a military official said, adding that there were also "deaths and injuries in the ranks of the enemy."
A medical official in the nearby city of Aden confirmed the toll.
Battles have raged since Wednesday in the area surrounding Al-Wahda stadium on the outskirts of Zinjibar, most of which fell to the Islamists a month ago.
The army on Thursday fired artillery shells at the stadium and "managed to regain its control over it," said the official.
The same source said Wednesday that losing the stadium would have deprived the troops of a strategic location since weapons were airlifted by helicopter to the brigade stationed in the arena.
Forty-eight people, including 30 soldiers and four civilians, were killed in the Wednesday fighting.
The latest violence has raised the army death toll to at least 135 troops killed since the militants, who call themselves Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), seized control of most of Zinjibar on May 29.
The military official renewed his calls for tribes in the Abyan province -- of which Zinjibar is the capital -- "to join in the fight against Al-Qaeda."
"Al-Qaeda militants will not dare kill the tribesmen because they know they will retaliate," said the official.
The Sanaa government says the Islamist fighters are allied with Al-Qaeda but the opposition accuses the government of playing up a jihadist threat in a desperate attempt to keep embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power.
The country is the home of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, an affiliate of the global network accused of anti-US plots, including an attempt to blow up a US-bound aircraft on Christmas Day 2009.
President Saleh had been a key US ally in its US "war on terror" but has faced mass protests against his rule since January. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
