Al Qaida militants have staged a surprise attack on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a US drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

Fifteen al-Qaida-linked militants have been killed in a missile strike on their training camp in southern Yemen, according to military officials.

Al-Qaida-linked militants staged a dawn attack on an army post in south Yemen today, setting off clashes which left 23 dead on both sides, Yemeni army officials said.

The death toll among Yemeni government troops attacked by al-Qaida militants at the weekend has risen to 185, military officials said today.

Al Qaida militants overran an army base in southern Yemen today, capturing heavy weapons and turning them on soldiers in intense clashes that left 61 dead, a military official said.

At least 2,000 displaced Yemenis have returned home to a restive area in the country’s south that has been under the control of al-Qaida-linked militants for more than seven months.

Clashes and artillery shelling in the south of Yemen has killed 16 al-Qaida-linked militants and four soldiers.

A Yemen government warplane has mistakenly bombed an army position in the country’s south, killing at least 30 soldiers.

AT least 230 Yemeni soldiers were killed in fighting with militants linked to al-Qaida that led to the lifting of the siege of a brigade imposed three months ago, the defence ministry said yesterday.

YEMENI air force jets hit an al-Qaeda stronghold town in the south of the country, killing seven civilians when they mistakenly struck the wrong mosque, a local official said yesterday.

A senior leader of Yemen’s al-Qaida branch has been killed in fighting in the nearly lawless south of the country, the Defence Ministry said.

SYRIAN tanks surrounded a town near the border with Iraq’s Sunni heartland yesterday after tens of thousands, emboldened by defections among security forces, took to the streets there denouncing President Bashar al-Assad, residents said.

YEMEN’S acting leader has put forward a new plan to end the country’s political stalemate, which would keep President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power longer than previously outlined.

Yemeni soldiers battled Islamic militants today in an attempt to drive them from several southern towns under the control of hundreds of the fighters. The clashes killed 30 people on both sides, officials said.

YEMEN President Ali Abdullah Saleh is out of intensive care in Saudi Arabia where he is being treated for bomb blast wounds, prompting celebratory gunfire that hurt dozens of people.

Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh was burned on more than 40% of his body and suffered bleeding in the brain from last weekend’s attack on his palace, US officials said, indicating his wounds were worse than initially reported.

THE US made clear yesterday that it wants Yemen’s government to seize on the absence of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to effect a peaceful, orderly political transition.

Twelve protesters were killed when Yemeni security forces opened fire on a massive anti-government demonstration in the capital Sanaa.