At least four Al Qaeda militants were killed and five others captured Sunday during an army operation in Yemen, the defence ministry said.
"Forces of the 1st Regional Military Command launched an army operation and stormed a terrorist cell inside a house in the Qattan region of Hadramout province," Xinhua quoted the defence ministry as saying.
The Yemeni army forces stepped up their presence and deployed heavy armoured vehicles and tanks to counter a sharp rise in Al Qaeda assaults in several regions of the province.
Since April, the Yemeni government has waged a major offensive on Al Qaeda strongholds in the country's southern territories, killing scores of militants.
The Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009 and is considered one of the greatest threats to the Yemeni government and neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
