Al-Qaeda attacked a Yemeni army headquarters in a heavily patrolled district of Aden on Wednesday, sparking a gun battle that killed 20 people, most of them militants, officials said.

Al-Qaeda attacked a Yemeni army headquarters in a heavily patrolled district of Aden on Wednesday, sparking a gun battle that killed 20 people, most of them militants, officials said.

The building targeted is located in the supposedly tightly secured coastal district of Tawahi that hosts intelligence and political police headquarters, a naval base and a presidential residence.

"We have regained control of the situation," an army official told AFP, adding that the fighting went on for several hours.

Ten of the assailants were killed, along with a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives-laden car at an entrance to the base, the official said.

Six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded, while three civilians including a seven-year-old child were also among those who died, the official added.

The militants launched the attack on the northern side of the army headquarters, with some of them climbing a wall into the building as a car was blown up at a western entrance, the sources said.

Reinforcements from the 31st Armoured Brigade stationed in Aden were dispatched to support the troops in Tawahi, a military official said.

No information was immediately available on the overall number of attackers.

The official Saba news agency quoted a security official as saying the incident was "a suicide terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda".

"The guards at the HQ have foiled this cowardly attack" and government forces were "hunting down the attackers who fled after the assault," the official told Saba.