Militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch resumed their presence and terror activities in the country's southeastern province of Shabwa on Sunday because of a recent security vacuum, a local military official said.

The official based in the oil-rich province said on condition of anonymity that "scores of militants of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) started to rearrange their ranks."

He said that "intelligence informants revealed that senior and mid-level commanders of AQAP started recruiting new fighters in some mountainous areas of Shabwa."

According to the official, absence of the Shabwani elite security units that were trained and equipped by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enabled AQAP to gain a foothold in the turbulent province again.

"The active Shabwani elite forces had participated greatly in combating terrorism during the past period and sharply decreased AQAP presence there," he said.

The Yemeni military official warned against the serious consequences that may arise after the UAE-backed southern security units were absent.

An official of the local authority in Shabwa confirmed to sources that "a number of drive-by shooting attacks and assassinations were recorded in Shabwa during the past days."

He pointed out that "unknown masked gunmen set up a number of checkpoints in the province and started kidnapping their opponents."

The source confirmed that "some stores and key state institutions were subjected to sabotage operations including looting and rubbery acts earlier this week in Shabwa."

Last year, the newly-recruited southern security units backed by UAE armed forces operating in the southern province of Aden launched a number of anti-terror offensives "to root out al-Qaida militants from their strongholds in the neighboring southern province of Abyan."

Hundreds of the newly-recruited southern soldiers joined the anti-terror campaigns after receiving adequate military training and financial support from the UAE forces.

The UAE-backed anti-terror campaigns dislodged al-Qaida militants from several villages in Abyan and in the neighboring southeastern province of Shabwa, with more than 50 of them arrested.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa and Abyan provinces.AFP