A suicide bomber killed 12 Yemeni soldiers in a military post in the southern province of Abyan, authorities said.
The attacker “drove a booby-trapped car into a site for the security forces,” in the Mudiyah district, Mohamed al-Naqib, a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council, said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
The Southern Transitional Council which is allied with the Saudi coalition and controls large parts of the south which it wants to secede has stepped up offensives against Al Qaeda elements in Abyan over the past year.
AQAP has survived years of attempted crackdowns by the US military, the coalition, and the Houthis, taking advantage of Yemen’s mayhem, tribal sympathies, and large stretches of empty territory.