Yemen soldiers killed in attack on army base

A senior military official says suspected al-Qaeda militants have fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns at a military base in southern Yemen, killing two soldiers guarding its gate.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdullah, commander of the army’s 115th Brigade, told reporters that one of the attackers, a Saudi national, was killed in the Saturday morning attack on his unit’s base in the southern town of Lawder in Abyan province. He said two Yemeni nationals were arrested.

Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch, also known al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is considered by the U.S. to be the terror network’s most dangerous affiliate. The group seized large swaths of southern Yemen after the country’s 2011 uprising. A U.S.-backed military offensive later drove militants out of main cities and towns, but they continue to stage attacks.