Three of the suspected al-Qaeda gunmen who attacked a military checkpoint in south-eastern Yemen were killed in a clash with troops, a police official said on Monday.
Brigadier General Ahmed al-Maqdashi, the police commander of Shabwa province, said in remarks posted on the Defence Ministry's website that among the slain al-Qaeda men was senior operative Zaiyd al-Daghari, DPA reported.
They were killed in clashes with military soldiers manning the checkpoint they attacked late on Sunday in the al-Oqlah area in Shabwa province, some 570 kilometres southeast of Sana'a.
Six soldiers were killed in the attack, al-Maqdashi confirmed.
A security source told the German Press Agency dpa that the assailants opened fire on soldiers at the checkpoint in an apparent attempt to raid an adjacent oil exploration field operated by the Austrian company, OMV.
Al-Maqdashi said some of the assailants were also among those who attacked a patrol vehicle killing five policemen in Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa on July 22.
He said an extensive manhunt for the attackers who managed to flee was under way.