Fierce clashes in Yemen left a leader of Al-Qaeda and 10 soldiers killed, a military source and medics said on Thursday.

Fierce clashes in Yemen left a leader of Al-Qaeda and 10 soldiers killed, a military source and medics said on Thursday.

Ayad al-Shabwani, a leader of Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed on Tuesday by artillery fire during heavy fighting that continued into Wednesday between the army and suspected Al-Qaeda militants near Zinjibar.

Clashes took place about four kilometers east of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, east of the main southern city Aden, a military source said.
Medical sources said that 10 soldiers had been killed and 33 wounded in the fighting.

One medic at a military hospital said that it had received nine dead soldiers and 15 wounded on Wednesday night.
And a medic at another hospital in Aden said it received 19 wounded soldiers from the 31st armored brigade, and that one had died of his wounds.

The army was attacked by militants south of Zinjibar, "resulting in the death and wounding of a number of soldiers," but the attack was repulsed and the soldiers were able to progress toward Zinjibar, the military source said.

Yemen had said before that Ayad al-Shabwani was killed, along with five other leaders, in a January 15 air strike on a convoy of vehicles. Three days later, AQAP denied that either Shabwani or the five others had been killed.
Militants believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda took over much of Zinjibar in late May, and have been battling security forces ever since, displacing thousands of residents.