A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a large group of army reinforcements in south Yemen on Sunday (August 7th), killing five soldiers, AFP reported.
Another seven soldiers were wounded in the attack that targeted troops who had been sent from Aden to Lahj province to fight extremists, military officials said.
A military official said it was unclear whether the attack had been carried out by al-Qaeda or the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), both of which have gained ground in the south.
The bombing came hours after clashes between troops and extremists in Lahj, the military officials said, adding that coalition jets also took part in the fighting.
Also on Sunday, suspected members of al-Qaeda shot dead an army colonel in nearby Abyan province, a military source said.
The gunmen on a motorbike opened fire at Col. Abdullah Shamba, killing him immediately before driving off, the official said.
Shamba headed a local anti-al-Qaeda militia in Abyan.
Late Saturday, coalition jets attacked al-Qaeda positions in Abyan's provincial capital of Zinjibar and in the nearby town of Jaar, military sources said.
