Al Qaeda militants killed 24 Yemeni soldiers of the Special Forces Monday in an attack on military barracks in the southeast province of Hadramout in Yemen, a security official said.
"A total of 24 soldiers of the Special Forces were killed and only one soldier survived the attack but sustained severe injuries," the official told Xinhua.
The attack targeted the barracks and its checkpoint located at the middle of a 250-km-long highway linking Hadramout's provincial capital of Mukalla and the far southeast province of al-Mahara.
The militants decamped with two armoured vehicles fitted with missile launchers, three pick-up cars and the soldiers' rifles, the official said, adding that army reinforcements were dispatched from al-Mahara to track the militants.