Two Yemeni military staff were killed on Thursday in a bombing attack carried out by the militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch in the country's southern province of Abyan, a security official said.

The incident occurred when the al-Qaeda militants planted an improvised explosive device targeting a military ambulance of the government forces in Abyan's district of Mudiyah, causing a large explosion, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

According to the source, a member of the medical staff and a soldier from the government forces lost their lives, while other soldiers sustained injuries.

He said that the injured were shifted to a public hospital in the neighboring southern port city of Aden for treatment.

Yemeni officials say that security forces are often targeted by al-Qaeda through the utilization of roadside bombs and explosive devices, although no group has yet claimed responsibility for attacking the military ambulance.

In an effort to tackle the growing terror threat, government forces backed by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have carried out several large-scale military operations on al-Qaeda's hideouts in recent months, but are still unable to eliminate the group hidden in the mountainous areas of Yemen's southern provinces.

Yemen has been embroiled in a devastating civil war since 2014, with the Houthi rebels fighting against the internationally-recognized government and its allied Saudi-led coalition.