Six Qaida Suspects Killed in South Yemen Violence

Six al-Qaida suspects were killed overnight during shelling and clashes in the restive southern Yemeni province of Abyan, a local official said on Thursday.

Five died when their positions in Bajdar, on the outskirts of the provincial capital Zinjibar, were shelled in an attack that "might have come from U.S. naval forces" in the Gulf of Aden, the official said.

One militant was killed and four others wounded Wednesday in the fifth night of clashes pitting the al-Qaida linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group against Yemeni troops trying to retake Zinjibar.

Meanwhile, suspected al-Qaida loyalists kidnapped the brother of the chief of a tribal militia which has joined the army's fight against the jihadists, a tribal source told Agence France Presse.

Rashid Aydarus was abducted near the main southern city of Aden in a bid by the extremists to negotiate the release of one of their men, Salem al-Mashibi, who was snatched by tribesmen three months ago.

Yemeni government forces have been backed by tribal fighters and sometimes supported by U.S. drone strikes in their battle against the Partisans of Sharia, an insurgent group that took over most of Zinjibar in May.

Al-Qaida has profited from the instability caused by 11 months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, strengthening its positions across the south of the country.