Five killed in Yemen suicide attack

At least five people were killed and six others injured Tuesday in a suicide attack on an army checkpoint in Yemen's Hadramout province, an official said.

"Four soldiers from the special security forces died after a huge bombing carried out by a suspected Al Qaeda suicide bomber on a key military checkpoint in Qattan region of Hadramout province," the official told Xinhua.

"Those killed in the suicide attack include two officers and some six soldiers sustained serious injuries."

An army commander in the region said heavy armed clashes took place after the suicide bomber in the explosives-laden car blew it up at the checkpoint at around 9.30 a.m. Tuesday.

A number of suspected Al Qaeda assailants engaged in armed confrontations with the army troops stationed at the checkpoint after the explosion, the official said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Yemeni military officials blamed militants of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda offshoot for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the country's southern parts.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, which emerged in Jan 2009, is considered one of the greatest threats to the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia.