Two Yemeni soldiers and two suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in clashes overnight near the restive southern city of Zinjibar, a military source said on Saturday. Three soldiers and four members of the Partisans of Sharia, an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group that took over most of Zinjibar earlier this year, were wounded in the fighting, the source said.
Zinjibar is the capital of the southern Abyan province, a stronghold of al Qaeda, and has been the scene of frequent fighting between army troops and Islamist militants since May.