Four soldiers and nine opposition fighters were killed in southern Yemen on Wednesday (October 11th), as clashes flared in the last Houthi (Ansarallah) pocket in mainly government-held Shabwa province, AFP reported.
The deaths came in Bayhan district as troops responded to a Houthi offensive, army sources said.
Bayhan is the sole district of Shabwa still held by the opposition, who control neighbouring al-Bayda province and most of northern Yemen.
Also on Wednesday, Yemeni troops secured a key highway linking Shabwa -- a former bastion of al-Qaeda -- to the Saudi border further north, according to a security source.
"The highway had been under the control of al-Qaeda, gangs and robbers," the source said, adding that "security forces were facing constant ambush".
The operation to secure the 250-kilometre highway was carried out by UAE-trained Yemeni special forces.
Those forces launched a major operation against al-Qaeda two months ago, driving it from the oil-rich Shabwa province.
The extremists are thought to have moved further south into neighbouring Abyan province, where they have since been blamed for suicide attacks on Yemen's military.
