ADEN: A suicide bomber killed six Yemeni soldiers on Friday in a militant attack on a military base in the south of the country, a Yemeni military official said.

Militants linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are increasingly targeting Yemeni Army facilities in the US-allied state.

The military official said the bomber drove a car laden with explosives and blew himself up at the gate of the army camp in Ahwar, an area in the southern province of Abyan.

Other militants attacked soldiers in the camp with machine guns and RPGs, the source said, adding that 17 soldiers were wounded in the clashes.

The military official gave no detail on any casualties among the militants, but said the fighting was still going on.

Local witnesses said a helicopter, apparently belonging to the Yemeni Army, was circling in the vicinity.

AQAP is regarded by the United States as one of the most active wings of the militant network, posing a serious threat to Western interests including oil tanker traffic in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

Last month, dozens of militants stormed and captured the headquarters of the Yemeni Army’s Second Division in the eastern coastal city of Al-Mukalla and seized some military personnel. Military officials said four Yemeni soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a counter-strike to retake the base.

AQAP said in a statement last week that the Sept. 30 attack targeted an operations room used by the United States to direct drone strikes against militants. This was denied by a Yemeni official, who said the facility contained a counter-piracy room for monitoring and securing shipping routes in the Arabian Sea.

Yemen’s state news agency Saba reported on Thursday that a soldier was killed and two injured in militant attacks in Al-Bayda province, south of the capital Sanaa. Saba said Al-Qaeda fighters suffered heavy losses and were forced to flee, but provided no details.