At least 18 al-Qaida militants were killed and dozens of others were injured when the Yemeni army forces on Thursday launched artillery attacks against al-Qaida group's hideouts in the southern volatile province of Abyan, a local army officer told Xinhua.

The officer said on condition of anonymity that the army troops clashed with the al-Qaida militants in the southern entrances of the al-Qaida-seized of Zinjibar, leaving 18 members of the terrorist group killed and dozens of others injured as well as retreating several explosive devices and mines, which were planted in various areas of the Abyan province.

A number of the al-Qaida militants' fortifications and ammunition storages were completely destroyed during the shelling on the terrorist members hideouts in al-Kud area, according to the officer.

Another officer from the 31st Armored Brigade said that seven soldiers were also killed Thursday in an ambush targeted their patrol, which was sent as reinforcements to support the army troops fighting al-Qaida militants in Dovas area.

The officer also said that the fiercest clashes of its kind were still going on around the southern and eastern entrances of the Zinjibar city.

Meanwhile, a medical source at the Aden based of Bashuib military hospital told Xinhua that at least 60 soldiers were injured during the continuing clashes with the al-Qaida militants in the Abyan province.

Abyan, some 480 km south of the capital Sanaa, is a key stronghold of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took advantage of the fragile situation in Yemen amid continuous anti-government protests and insecurity to expand its military operations against the army forces in Yemen's southern and eastern main provinces.