ADEN, Yemen, (PNA/Xinhua) — A group of gunmen on Monday carried out an armed attack on a main military base in Hadramout, Yemen’s largest province, leaving several soldiers injured, a provincial security official said.
The attack took place at the Army’s Second Region HQ in Hadramout, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A fierce gunbattle between the attackers and army troops then erupted around the army base and armored vehicles backed by tanks rushed to the scene, the official added.
About an hour later, a series of small explosions were heard inside the headquarters, according to local residents.
The attack left several soldiers wounded.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the armed attack against the army base.
Yemeni security services repeatedly blame militants of a Yemen- based al-Qaida offshoot for such kind of attacks, mostly in the country’s southern regions.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in January 2009, is considered the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and its neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.