At least six Yemeni government forces soldiers were killed Tuesday during an attack by al-Qaeda militants in the southern province of Abyan, according to local officials.
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The attack took place in Wadi Omran over several hours and left 5 injured among Southern Armed Forces fighters loyal to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC), said Mohammed al-Naqib, spokesman for the latter.
According to the official, the attackers had used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades when the Southern Transitional Council units were surrounded by terrorist troops in a large-scale attack.
The CTS is promoting the secession of South Yemen with the support of the United Arab Emirates. Its forces launched numerous operations since August last year against the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in Abyan, a conflict zone between the two jihadist groups.
Several Al-Qaeda militants were also reportedly killed during the clash, which came amid an intensification of Al-Qaeda actions in key regions of Abyan in recent weeks.
Locals reported the arrival of militants from neighboring Shabwa and Al-Bayda provinces, where the terrorist group maintains strongholds.
The CTS announced at the end of last August that its forces had seized, without fighting, the province of Abyan, controlled until then by the forces of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia.
Nine years into the conflict in Yemen
The military escalation underscores the persistent security threat posed by al-Qaeda's Yemeni faction, called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
With peace talks stalled, the conflict between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government backed by the Saudi-led coalition shows no signs of abating.
The civil war and power vacuum in Yemen has allowed AQAP and other extremist groups to flourish, posing a serious security threat within and beyond Yemen's borders.