Another 38 militants and about 30 soldiers were wounded in the clashes that took place near the city of Dufas in the southern province of Abyan, they said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said the fighting took place over the past 24 hours. A colonel was among the military dead.

The US and other Western powers have looked on with concern as al-Qaida gains a strong foothold in southern Yemen. The US considers the Yemen spur of al-Qaida as one of the most active in worldwide terror. The "Christmas bomber" who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a plane as it landed in Detroit in December 2009 was said to have been trained in Yemen.

Yemen has been wracked by internal conflict for months over popular protests demanding the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The al-Qaida militants have taken advantage of that to take control of several towns and districts in the southern part of the country.

AP