Al Qaeda militants killed some 20 Yemeni security force members in an assault in the southern Abyan province on Tuesday, a southern military spokesperson said, before all eight attackers were killed.
The militants used rocket-propelled grenades, light and medium weapons and military vehicles in the ambush on a security checkpoint in Ahwar district, Mohammed al-Naqib, spokesperson for Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces, told Reuters.
Yemen's main southern separatist group STC, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, last month expanded its presence throughout Abyan in what it described as a move to combat "terrorist organisations", specifying al Qaeda.
