ADEN: Six suspected Al-Qaeda fighters, six soldiers and a civilian woman were killed in a series of militant attacks in the eastern Yemeni city of Seiyun on Thursday, officials said.

A suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into the entrance of an army base, killing four soldiers in the city in Hadramawt province. Another militant was killed in clashes that followed.

Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen briefly seized a Yemeni airport in a deadly assault Thursday, just as a civilian airliner was landing, before the airfield was retaken by the army, officials said.

They gunned down three soldiers at the entrance to Sayun airport in southeastern Hadramawt province, which is also used by the air force, before capturing the control tower and other parts of the facility, a security official said.

Troops retook the airport, killing six militants and freeing hostages seized from the control tower, a security official said. Four militants were captured, and others fled.

Seiyun’s airport only had two scheduled flights on Thursday, one to Sanaa and the other to Jeddah, according to flightstats.com.