At least two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Thursday in an ambush attack by unknown gunmen on a military convoy in the southeastern province of Shabwa, said a local government official.

"A convoy of the 3rd Presidential Guard forces was targeted in an ambush on the main road linking Shabwa and neighboring province of Abyan," the official said on condition of anonymity.

He said that three other soldiers were injured in the armed ambush on the convoy of government forces heading to the Abyan province.

Clashes erupted between the government forces and unidentified attackers following the ambush, he added.

During the past weeks, a number of ambushes were conducted by armed groups, which targeted the Yemeni government forces in Abyan and neighboring Shabwa province.

No group has claimed responsibility for the armed ambush.

Military units of the government forces and officials have been the prime targets of armed attacks launched by unknown gunmen in recent months in the country's southern regions.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.