Suspected Al-Qaeda militants riding in a convoy of vehicles attacked an army post in Hadramawt province in southeast Yemen on Friday, killing 12 soldiers and wounding 11, a military source said.

Suspected Al-Qaeda militants riding in a convoy of vehicles attacked an army post in Hadramawt province in southeast Yemen on Friday, killing eight soldiers and wounding 11, a military source said.

"The attackers approached the position on board several vehicles and opened fire on the soldiers with different types of weapons, killing eight and wounding 11 more," the source told AFP.

He said the militants targeted a post known as Hanine in the area of Al-Qatn town in the centre of the vast semi-desert province.

Military reinforcements had been sent to the area, the source added, without elaborating.

He said four militants were killed and several wounded, but the attackers took their dead and wounded with them when they withdrew.

Friday's was the second major attack by militants on Yemeni troops army in three days.

On Thursday, Al-Qaeda claimed a brazen assault on an army headquarters in a highly secure area of Aden the previous day.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is viewed by Washington as the deadliest franchise in the extremist network, and is the target of frequent US drone attacks.

AQAP said Wednesday's attack on the Aden military complex killed "nearly 50 soldiers" and was part of its campaign to "target the joint operation rooms that manage the US drones in the country".

A security official gave a death toll of six soldiers, three civilians, 10 assailants and a suicide bomber from that attack.