"Al-Qaeda assailants carried out simultaneous attacks against three military positions in Rada" in Bayda, an extremist stronghold, said the source on Thursday as cited in an AFP report.

According to the official, a number of soldiers were also wounded in the incident while several of the assailants were also killed by security forces.

Furthermore, a man wearing an explosive belt was also reported to be among the dead.

The Rada district is mainly considered as a stronghold of the militants.

Yemeni security forces frequently come under attack by gunmen in various parts of the country.

On Tuesday, Abd al-Ghani al-Muqalih, the general manager of a military-affiliated corporation, was killed in a drive-by shooting by two gunmen in the southern province of Hadhramaut.

In December 2012, two armed men killed Lieutenant Colonel Mutei Baqatyan, a member of the country’s state security, in an attack in the southern city of Mukalla.

Major General Ahmed was also seriously injured and 12 people were killed in a car bomb attack that targeted his motorcade in the heart of the capital Sana’a in September 2012.

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