At least 14 pro-government troops and 12 Qaeda militants were killed in Qaeda attacks including a car bomb and clashes in Yemen's eastern province of Hadramout on Friday, local officials said.
Qaeda militants first ambushed a military patrol and then detonated the car bomb at a security checkpoint in the town of Shibam, they said.
The attacks triggered fierce clashes with the military in which troops and militants were killed and injured, they said. Civilians were also injured in the car bomb, they added.
The incidents coincided with raging battles between the pro-government forces and the Houthi militants as well as fresh airstrikes by the Arab coalition in the provinces of Taiz, Dhali and Jawf.
Qaeda militants seized parts of Hadramout including the capital Mukalla early 2015 taking advantage of chaos sparked by the Houthi militants' seizure of power.
They have since been controlling the towns without intervention from the pro-government brigades stationed in the province.
Taking advantage of the ongoing conflict deepened by the Saudi-led military intervention, ISIL also have lately become active in some provinces including the capital Sanaa.
It has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on Houthi loyalists in Sanaa and government installations and troops in the south.