ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A senior Yemeni army officer and five soldiers were killed on Friday during fighting with al- Qaida militants in the turbulent southern province of Abyan, a senior security official said.
A colonel of the 201st Armored Army Brigade was killed along with five other soldiers in the fighting which took place in the suburbs of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, the local security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A soldier of the Brigade said the fighting erupted early Friday following a retaliatory attack by armed terrorists against the army forces positioned east of the Zinjibar city.
Medics at the Bashuib military hospital in the nearby Aden province, where the dead and injured soldiers are being taken for treatment, confirmed to Xinhua the toll, saying that "five bodies of soldiers and an army colonel were received this afternoon from Abyan and the army casualties are expected to rise due to the ongoing fighting with the terrorists."
Since late January 2011, when protests erupted against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, the militants of al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have been working to bolster their presence in the country's remote regions.
The group has taken control of several cities and towns across the restive southern provinces, as the Yemeni government forces engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists during the past months, leaving hundreds of people killed.
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