Reuters ADEN: At least three soldiers were killed in clashes with al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen in an operation launched by the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi, security sources said.
They said at least 10 other soldiers were wounded when troops were ambushed east of the coastal city of Shuqra Tuesday. Intense clashes were continuing Wednesday.
The sources said that Hadi forces, backed by aircraft of a Saudi-led coalition, were targeting Shuqra when they were surprised by the militants. One military vehicle overturned, another was destroyed and two were captured, they said.
The incident highlighted the obstacles facing Hadi's government as it struggles to wipe out al-Qaeda while simultaneously trying to defeat Houthi fighters in a war that has lasted nearly two years and killed more than 10,000 people.
In August, the Yemeni army drove al-Qaeda out of two strongholds in the same region in a campaign in which at least 40 militants were killed.
The United States, which sees the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda as a threat to its own security, said last month it had killed 28 militants in nine strikes in the Arab country since September.
The group has exploited the civil war between Hadi's Saudi-backed government and the Houthis, aligned with Iran, to recruit followers and expand its influence across the country, especially in the south and east.
The impoverished country overlooks key shipping routes and shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.
In other parts of Yemen, clashes were reported between Hadi supporters and fighters from the Houthi group and their allies in the southwestern city of Taiz, the northern province of Saada and in Shabwa in the southeast.
The Hadi-run sabanew.net news agency reported "major gains" in Shabwa province, but residents said that the battlefront had changed little in other parts of the country.
Yemeni troops attack Al-Qaeda, 26 dead
Agence France Presse ADEN, Yemen: Sixteen Yemeni pro-government fighters were killed Tuesday in separate clashes with Houthi rebels and Al-Qaeda fighters in the south of the war-torn country, military sources and officials said.
Forces supporting Yemen’s President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, are fighting both the Houthi rebels who control parts of the country including the capital Sanaa and Islamist militants in the south.
Al-Qaeda fighters Tuesday ambushed an army unit on its way to conduct an operation against a militant position east of the coastal town of Shaqra in the southern province of Abyan, security sources said.
Local officials said 11 soldiers and 15 Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the attack.
Al-Qaeda fighters seized two military vehicles and weapons, security sources said.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring province of Shabwa, five pro-Hadi fighters including an officer were killed along with nine Houthi rebels near the town of Baihan, loyalist military sources said.
Baihan is held by the Houthis and their allies, supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Al-Qaeda and the rival of Daesh (ISIS) have taken advantage of chaos in Yemen to reinforce their presence in the Arabian Peninsula country. Yemen’s war has killed at least 10,000 people since the coalition began its military intervention in March 2015, the U.N. says.
Monday, military and rebel sources said 11 civilians, including five members of one family, and 14 Houthi rebels have been killed in shelling and airstrikes over two days. | 
