At least one soldier was killed and another one was wounded in a "terrorist attack targeting a police vehicle in Zinjibar city of the troubled southern province of Abyan Friday evening," the Yemen ruling party's website said.
"A group of al-Qaida gunmen riding motorbikes opened a hail of bullets at the police vehicle carrying food for the soldiers stationing at a checkpoint in Zinjibar, the provincial capital city of Abyan, killing one soldier and injured another," almotamar.net said on Friday, Xinhua reported.
Meanwhile, in the same province, an al-Qaida militant surrendered to the Yemeni security authorities on Friday in the flashpoint city of Lodar of Abyan, state news agency Saba reported.
Lodar is believed to be a stronghold of al-Qaida forces in the Arabian Peninsula, which witnessed a series of deadly battles between suspected al-Qaida fighters and security forces late last month, leaving dozens of both sides dead or injured.
The Yemeni government has been facing growing troubles in the south by resurgent al-Qaida regional wing and southern separatists who seek to separate the south part of the country from north and establish an independent state.
Besides attempts to curb the southern separatists, the government also intensified security operations and air raids against terrorist groups after the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for a botched attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger plane bound for Detroit in December last year.