The death toll of Sunday's massacre carried out by al-Qaeda has risen to soldiers 70 killed and many experts believe there was a clear collusion and prior coordination between the terrorist and military leadership.

On Sunday afternoon, al-Qaeda militants carried out fierce attacks on military bases in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, killing dozens of soldiers, capturing others and seizing a huge amount of heavy weapons and military gear.

They stormed a military base in Zinjubar, the provincial capital of Abyan, killing 70 soldiers, capturing 55 others, destroying 3 tanks, and seizing heavy weapon including rocket launchers, mortars, and machine guns, local security source told Yemen Post on condition of anonymity.

In a surprise attack, the militants infiltrated into the Joint Artillery Tanks battalion based in Dowvas vally, Abyan. They exploited the negligence in the base as some of the military personnel were out, and managed to take control of rocket launchers, armored vehicles, mortars, and machine guns. Then they used it in the fight against the army, the local security source said, requesting anonymity.

Only 15 terrorists were killed in the attack among whom 6 are not Yemenis, added the source.

In addition to the 70 soldiers killed, at least 30 others are badly injured, medics have confirmed to Yemen Post.

The attack coincided with the transfer of leadership of the Southern military region from Major general Mohdi Maqula to the newly-appointed commander Major General Salem Ali Qatan.

Al-Qaeda elements seized a golden opportunity as the weather was cloudy with sand dunes covering the sky, realizing it was impossible for the US unmanned drones , which is usually hovering the area in search of islamists, to strike and pursue the terrorists movements, Ahmed Mohammed Saleh, military analyst told Yemen Post.

Many analysts and military experts don't rule out that there was collusion between the islamits and the brigades' former leadership as  it was impossible for a group of militants with light weapons to infiltrate into a military base and make such atrocious massacre and all this chaos.

"After looting different kind of weapons, al-Qaeda militants have reportedly crossed the desert without being bombarded or stricken by the Air Force despite the multiple requests sent by the soldiers ,and this underscores that there was a clear collusion and prior coordination between the military leadership and al-Qaeda," said Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Dawri, a military brigadier familiar with the area.

After newly-elected President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has vowed to keep up the fight against terrorism, al-Qaeda has stepped up its offenses against the army, killing more than 110 army personnel in less than 10 days.

Al-Qaeda represents both a major threat and a test to both Hadi and the Interim government in the transitional stage.