Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has sacked the military chiefs of two regions following a surge in Al-Qaeda attacks.

Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi has sacked the military chiefs of two regions following a surge in Al-Qaeda attacks, state media reported Sunday.

Major General Mohammad al-Makdishi, who headed the sixth military command based in the northern  city of Amran overrun by Huthi forces, was sacked Saturday, Saba news agency said.

Hadi appointed Brigadier Mohammad al-Hawry to the post.

Huthis, also known as Ansarullah, have complained for years of marginalization in Yemen, and oppose the transition plan saying it would divide Yemen into rich and poor regions.

In February they advanced from their mountain strongholds in the remote north towards the capital. They agreed Saturday to pull out from the city after striking a deal with the defense ministry allowing troops back into Amran.

Hadi also sacked Brigadier-General Mohammad al-Somali, who headed the first  military command in charge of the southeastern Hadramawt province, where  Al-Qaeda militants are active.

He appointed Brigadier Abdurrahman al-Halili as a chief of the region that has seen a rise in Al-Qaeda attacks on security forces, including brazen attacks in Sayun.

In late June militants briefly seized Sayun airport in Hadramawt and targeted a military headquarters with a car bomb.

On May 24, militants had launched a massive pre-dawn assault, attacking police and army bases and public buildings in Sayun with suicide bombers, rocket-launchers and heavy machineguns.

The assault killed 15 soldiers and police. Twelve militants also died, three of them suicide bombers.

Sayun is the main town in the Hadramawt valley, a jihadist stronghold in the province's interior.

Hadramawt's rugged terrain provides hideouts for militants of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered by Washington as the jihadist network's most dangerous affiliate.