Qaeda suspects kill seven Yemen soldiers: officer

August 23, 2011

ADEN — Seven soldiers were killed on Tuesday and 30 others wounded in an attack launched by suspected Al-Qaeda militants on a base in the restive southern province of Abyan, a senior officer told AFP.

"Six soldiers and an officer were killed and 30 others wounded when Al-Qaeda militants attacked the camp of the 201 Brigade in Dofes," south of Abyan, capital of Zinjibar, the officer said.

The attackers had used the cover of a wooded area around the base to approach a unit of the brigade and opened fire with rocket-launchers and automatic weapons.

An official from a military hospital that took in the casualties confirmed the toll.

On Monday, government warplanes killed six presumed Al-Qaeda fighters in Arkub, another village in Abyan province, that they had seized a day earlier.