Baku-APA. Six Yemeni soldiers were killed and three others wounded when armed men ambushed government troops in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
"Government troops of the 26th Armored Brigade were on their way to provide reinforcement to a military checkpoint in central al-Bayda province when their convoy was waylaid and ambushed by suspected al-Qaida attackers in the region," the local military official said, requesting anonymity.
He said a firefight erupted between the militants and the government soldiers and lasted for about an hour, leaving about six soldiers killed and three others injured on the spot.
A provincial security officer said the incident could be considered as a "retaliatory action" by the al-Qaida gunmen against the army forces who have been conducting intensified military operations against their hideouts in the south.
The Yemeni armed forces backed by mechanized battalions, air force and special forces have killed, wounded and captured dozens of local and foreign suspected al-Qaida militants during the offensive that started two weeks ago.
The bodies of suspected foreign fighters from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Russia's Chechnya and other nations have been discovered among the dead, local authorities said.
Commanders of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have vowed to hit back.
Territories in Azzan and Mahfad, two of AQAP's main strongholds, have also been recaptured by the army troops.
The AQAP, known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It is considered the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia
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