Yemeni security forces have defused two booby-trapped vehicles and are searching for five others in Sanaa following a deadly attack on the defense ministry last week, police said Tuesday.

Yemeni security forces have defused two booby-trapped vehicles and are searching for five others in Sanaa following a deadly attack on the defense ministry last week, police said Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the security forces launched a major operation to locate and rid the capital of the bombs, and managed to find two of them on Monday, a police official told AFP.

"Special forces units are searching for five others," the official said, adding that "Al-Qaeda suspects have been arrested in raids."

Authorities have beefed up security around government buildings as well as embassies and foreign interests, especially in Sanaa, officials said.

The measures come after Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for a brazen daylight assault on the Yemeni defense ministry that killed 56 people on Thursday.

A preliminary inquiry into Thursday's attack has shown that most of the attackers were Saudis.

Meanwhile, in the country's southeastern Hadramawt province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, gunmen opened fire at an army vehicle that was handing out food supplies at a checkpoint, killing two soldiers before fleeing, a military official told AFP.

AQAP is usually blamed for the hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials that have intensified across the country in recent years.

The Yemeni affiliate of the global terror network founded by Osama bin Laden took advantage of a decline in central government control during Yemen's 2011 uprising to seize large swathes of territory across the south.

The militants were driven back in June 2012 and the group has since been further weakened by US drone strikes.