Five killed in Yemen terror attack

Suspected Al Qaeda militants launched an armed attack Thursday against a local government complex in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda, leaving at least two soldiers and three assailants dead, a police officer said.

"The local government headquarters came under heavy fire by rocket-propelled grenades from Al Qaeda. Two soldiers and three attackers were killed in the exchange of gunfire," the officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The situation is now under control," the source added.

Suspected Al Qaeda militants also raided the house of al-Bayda's deputy governor, but police forces managed to repel the assault, according to the Yemeni police source.

Earlier in the day, a Yemeni military official in southeastern Hadramout province told Xinhua that "a group of Al Qaeda gunmen attacked a security checkpoint located near Seiyun's (a city in Hadramout) local airport, sparking armed clashes in the area".

The militants attempted to raid the airport for a second time in less than a month after army and security reinforcements arrived in the area, the military official said.

On Wednesday, a senior Yemeni security officer was assassinated by unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike in Yemen's southern province of Taiz.

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.

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