Two soldiers of Yemen's government forces were killed in an attack by militants from the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda in the southern province of Abyan on Monday, a government official said.

The terrorist attack took place in the eastern part of Mudiyah district, where an ambush by al-Qaeda militants on a unit of government troops resulted in a fierce gunfight between the two sides, said the official who asked to remain anonymous.

Ten government soldiers were wounded in the attack and sent to a nearby hospital, he said, adding some of them were in critical condition.

The attack occurred just one day after Yemeni government forces launched a large-scale operation that intended to halt the activities of al-Qaeda militants in the area.

The operation, which targeted the Mudiyah district, a refuge for al-Qaeda militants in the province, has resulted in the capture of a mid-level al-Qaeda commander named Abu al-Qaqa, the official said, adding Monday's attack might have been a retaliatory attack by the al-Qaeda militants to obstruct and undermine the operations of government troops.

Abyan and other neighboring provinces in southern Yemen have witnessed increasing violence between Yemeni government forces and al-Qaeda militants in recent months.

The ongoing civil war and power vacuum in Yemen have allowed the expansion of al-Qaeda's Yemeni faction, referred to as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, posing a serious security threat inside and outside Yemen.