Saudi-backed Yemeni troops kill 6 al-Qaida operatives

About six operatives of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed during an anti-terror military operation conducted in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, a security official told Xinhua.

The anti-terror military operation was launched by newly-trained Yemeni troops and successfully targeted a hideout for al-Qaida operatives in Hamra area in the government-controlled province of Hadramout, the local security source said on condition of anonymity.

Warplanes of the Saudi-led Arab provided support for the government troops that engaged in armed confrontations with al-Qaida terrorists in the Hamra area, the source said.

"The operation surprised the militants who were planning for terrorist attacks against the government troops and other state facilities in Hadramout," a military source based in Hadramout said.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces launched anti-terror offensives and drived out scores of gunmen linked to the al-Qaida and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) from key neighborhoods and government compounds in Lahj and Abyan provinces during the past few months.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence and seize more territories in Yemen's southern part.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians.