Pro-government Yemeni security units launched a raid operation and targeted hideouts of the al-Qaida terrorist group in the country's eastern province of Maharah on Friday, a government official said.

"The security units captured members of a terror cell after raiding their hideouts in a number of neighborhoods in Ghaydah, Maharah provincial city," the local government source said on condition of anonymity.

Intense armed confrontations broke out between the security forces and the terror elements in the area, leaving three terrorists killed, he said.

Intelligence information provided by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition helped the Yemeni security forces to raid the hideouts of the terrorists, the source added.

According to the Yemeni government official, the security forces captured a number of terrorist elements during the raid and confiscated various weapons as well as explosive devices found inside their hideouts.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) network, which mostly operates in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country.

The AQAP, 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 in the war-ravaged Arab country.