Al-Qaeda militants attack security facilities in southeast Yemen, 12 soldiers killed

Al-Qaida militants attacked a police station and two military posts in the southeastern province of al-Bayda on Thursday, leaving about 12 soldiers killed, a government official told Xinhua. "Two military posts and a police center were attacked by a group of al-Qaida gunmen who threw explosives into the sites manned by army soldiers and opened heavy gunfire. Fierce fighting was still ongoing," the local government official said of condition of anonymity. The armed attack targeted two sites of the 139th Armored Brigade in the eastern outskirts of al-Bayda's provincial capital, " which bears the same name, about 270 km south of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. "Initial details show that there were high casualties. About 12 soldiers were killed and several others injured," the official said.