Pro-government fighters rebelled on Wednesday an attack by suspected militants in the town of Jaar, the first such an attack since the army and the fighters drove Al-Qaeda out of its strongholds in Abyan in May.
Security sources in the town said several militants were killed in the clashes with the tribal fighters in south of Jaar, but declined to give more details.
With direct support from the US, the Yemeni army launched an offensive against Al-Qaeda militants in Abyan and parts of some nearby provinces and drove them out of the towns they seized in mid-2011.
Hundreds of militants including senior leaders were killed in the offensive.
In the meantime, an extensive hunt is continuing for key operatives and the remaining militants who fled from Abyan and Shabwa provinces after the severe blows.
Many suspects and cells have been arrested in several Yemeni cities recent weeks so far, just amid deadly suicide bombings against military and security commanders, personnel, cadets and offices.