Yemeni forces foiled an Al-Qaeda attempt to detonate a car bomb in the south on Friday, the defense ministry said, as 56 security personnel were killed in three other attacks.

Yemeni forces foiled an Al-Qaeda attempt to detonate a car bomb in the south on Friday, the defense ministry said, as 56 security personnel were killed in three other attacks.

Security forces "foiled on Friday a terrorist attack by intercepting a bomb-laden car that was targeting the Ain Ba'maabad region and Balhaf gas terminal (in Shabwa province), causing the vehicle to explode, killing the terrorists it was carrying," said a statement on the ministry's 26sep.net website.

Suspected Al-Qaeda militantshad earlier killed at least 56 soldiers and policemen in three simultaneous attacks in southern Yemen, with two car bombs exploding at a base early on Friday and a separate shooting targeting soldiers. 
  
Two of the three attacks in Shabwa province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, involved vehicle bombs, military sources and civilian officials said.
  
The deadliest single attack was at an army camp responsible for ensuring security at oilfields in the region, where 38 soldiers were killed, the sources added. "Troops clashed with gunmen at the camp entrance, before a suicide attacker in a bomb-laden vehicle forced his way into the camp where his car exploded, killing 38 soldiers," said a government official in Ataq, capital of Shabwa.

Officials believe members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were behind the bomb attack, local security source said.

A concealed bomb in one car exploded among a group of soldiers at the gate as the driver sought to enter the camp. The other was already inside the camp when it exploded, he added.