At least 42 have been killed in the ongoing clashes against suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen’s southern Abyan province on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A senior security official in Abyan told Yemen Post that most of the killed have been from the militants. “A large number of the deaths are militants, though the government lost more than a dozen of its troops over the last 24 hours.”

Twenty seven of the killed in the province since Tuesday morning have been from the al-Qaeda militant lines while 16 were injured.

Tribal fighters loyal to the government said that six fighters where injured in Shaqra district  when a road side bomb exploded.

Fighters said that al-Qaeda has lost hundreds of its followers in the Abyan war since mid July, but complained that reinforcements reach the militants every time they fall behind.

Clashes  escalated over the last week in Abyan after government forces announced that it hoped to end clashes in the province before the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Ali Anesi, Head of the national security in Yemen said that at least 80 senior leaders of al-Qaeda organization hae been killed in the Abyan fighting, and that fighters from numerous nationalities were among the dead.