Three soldiers and a civilian were killed on Tuesday in a suicide bombing launched by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen's southern Abyan province, a website run by the Defence Ministry reported on Tuesday, dpa reported.
The report said that the suicide attack targeted a military post near the town of Laudar, which has been the site of battles since militants with the Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) organization tried to seize it a week ago.
Yemeni government forces and allied tribal fighters killed seven militants in the area on Monday, the September 26 website reported.
Meanwhile, a stand-off over an air base between the country's dismissed air force chief and soldiers loyal to President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi continued, independent news website al-Masdar Online reported.
Mohamed Saleh al-Ahmar and his men are refusing to allow the army access to the base, outside the capital Sana'a.
Al-Ahmar, the half-brother of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, was one of several top officers dismissed by Hadi this month, enabling the president to take full control of Yemen's divided military.
In the southern city of Taiz, another air force base was overrun Monday by members of the Republican Guard, which is commanded by Saleh's son Ahmed, according to al-Masdar Online.
Yemen faces military challenges from al-Qaeda-linked militants in the south and a rebellious Shiite movement in the north.
Its armed forces have been paralysed by a year of political discord in which some commanders lined up with former president Saleh, while others sided with the opposition.
Members of Saleh's family were appointed to senior military positions during his 34-year rule.