Yemen troops killed in suspected al-Qaeda attack: army

Five Yemeni soldiers were killed and three wounded on Sunday when gunmen suspected of ties to al-Qaeda opened fire on a military checkpoint, an army source said. 

The gunmen managed to escape after the attack on the checkpoint in the northeast of Shabwa province, a southern stronghold of Yemen's powerful al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the source said. 

Sunday's attack is the latest in a string of suspected AQAP shootings targeting military checkpoints and outposts in Yemen. 

AQAP, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa.

Last month, a US air raid on the province killed AQAP emir Abu Khattab al-Awlaqi, according to the Pentagon. 

The United States has intensified its air attacks on suspected AQAP sites in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January. 

Yemen's government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels for control of the impoverished country. 

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen's conflict, most of them civilians, since the Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in 2015. 

The country has also been hit by a deadly cholera outbreak and is on the edge of famine.