Yemeni soldiers killed eight al-Qaeda militants as they tried to attack an army post in the southern province of Abyan yesterday, the defence ministry said.
"Eight Al-Qaeda militants were killed and others wounded" when army forces "foiled their attack" against a military post near Bajdar on the outskirts of the provincial capital Zinjibar, the ministry's website 26sep.net said.
The army has been battling al-Qaeda militants, who have renamed themselves as the "Partisans of Sharia" (Islamic law), for control of Zinjibar for nearly a year.