Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen kill 3 Yemeni soldiers: Army

Aden: Three Yemeni soldiers have died in an attack by suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen on a local security chief in the southeastern Hadramawt province, the army said on Wednesday.

The attack yesterday targeted the head of security for Dhaliah district, north of the provincial capital Mukalla, the army said in a statement.

Al-Qaeda militants remain active in southern and southeastern Yemen despite repeated campaigns against them by government forces.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Huthi rebels to expand its presence.

The United States has intensified its air attacks on suspected AQAP sites in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Yemen's government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels for control of the impoverished country.

More than 8,000 people have been killed and a further 44,500 wounded since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the conflict in March 2015.