\\\'Qaeda attack\\\' kills 20 Yemen soldiers

ADEN, Mar 24 (AFP): Gunmen in Yemen killed 20 soldiers Monday at a checkpoint in Hadramawt province, the official Saba news agency said of the latest in a wave of attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda.

"Twenty soldiers were killed in the armed attack on an army checkpoint" near Reida, 135 kilometres (85 miles) east of the provincial capital Mukalla in the south, Saba said.

Security sources earlier put the toll at eight dead and six wounded, with one source saying the assault bore all the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

One source said the assault was carried out by gunmen aboard several vehicles.

"The attackers would appear to be in Al-Qaeda," the second military source said of AQAP, which the United States views as the jihadist network's most dangerous franchise.

Yemen has seen regular attacks on its security forces, usually blamed on AQAP which remains active in the south and east despite several military campaigns to crush it.

On March 18, a suspected Al-Qaeda suicide car bombing at a military intelligence headquarters killed one person and wounded 13.