Militants attack five Yemeni forces in Hadhramaut

At least five Yemeni security forces have been killed in an attack on a military post in the southeastern province of Hadhramaut.

The victims, among them four soldiers and an officer, were killed Friday when unknown gunmen armed with bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns attacked the post outside the town of al-Qatn.

Officials said five people were also wounded in the assault.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but al-Qaeda militants in the region have carried out attacks there before.

On Thursday, Yemen’s branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for an earlier attack on an army complex in the southern port city of Aden that killed at least eight people.

They said it was meant to destroy the joint operations room for US assassination drones which have been targeting the country over the past years.

On February 4, three people were killed in a bomb attack targeting a military bus transporting soldiers in the capital’s southern neighborhood of Dar al-Salam.

Militants also attacked a military checkpoint in the city of Shibam in the southeastern province of Hadhramaut, killing 35 Yemeni soldiers on January 31.

Last December, 50 people were killed in another militant assault that targeted the Defense Ministry headquarters in Sana’a.

Al-Qaeda-linked violence against Yemeni security forces has grown since February 2012, when President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was swept to power in a one-man election backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Hadi replaced long-time dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after a year of mass protests across the country.