Dozens of al-Qaeda elements were also injured in the Sunday attack by government troops on suspected militant hideouts in the town of Maifaa, Yemeni defense ministry said.

Several army soldiers have also been reported killed during the clashes.

Citing a military source, Yemeni state news agency SABA reported that the majority of the al-Qaeda militants killed in the army operation were Saudis, Afghans, Somalis and Chechen as well as from other countries.

Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) overran much of southern Yemen in 2011. It is believed to be the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda in the region.

The militants reportedly moved to the area when their training camps were shut down in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is while the Yemeni army announced last week that it had launched a major military campaign in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan.

Meanwhile, shortly after the deaths of the insurgents were reported on Sunday, an unnamed military source was cited in press reports as saying six soldiers had died when a suicide bomber attacked a military outpost in Shabwa.

The day before, an al-Qaeda leader, a native of Chechnya, and four other militants were killed in an army operation in the neighboring Abyan province.

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