The report by state news agency Saba came shortly after a military source told Reuters a suicide bomber killed six soldiers by their outpost in Shabwa, one of two provinces where the army has been fighting al Qaeda and its allies.
The source, speaking from the battlefront, also told Reuters that 20 soldiers were wounded in the bombing.
The number of attacks against the army and security forces in the south has risen sharply since Yemen's U.S.-backed army launched its anti-al Qaeda offensive last week.
Western countries fear further destabilisation in Yemen, which also faces separatists in the south and unrest in the north, could give more space to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local branch of the global Islamist militant movement, to plot attacks on international targets.
Washington has used drones for several years to kill members and leaders of the group. In April, air strikes - presumed to be carried out chiefly by U.S. drones - were launched on central and southern provinces of Yemen, which Yemeni authorities said killed some 65 al Qaeda militants.
Saba quoted a military source as saying that most of the militants killed in Sunday's fighting were Saudis, Afghans, Somalis and Chechens, as well as other nationalities.
The source also said the army destroyed a number of vehicles and weapons belonging to the militants.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said in a speech last week that 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen were foreigners, although AQAP later denied this. [ID:nL6N0NO1O4]
Separately the defence ministry website said security forces had destroyed a vehicle carrying several "terrorists", killing two of them and wounding four in Shabwa.
"BROKEN THE BACKBONE"
Late on Saturday, suspected militants in Shabwa threw hand grenades at a central bank building, wounding two soldiers, a local official said.
AQAP and its local ally, Ansar al-Sharia, have been waging an insurgency in southern Yemen for more than three years, battling both government forces and local tribal militias.
Hundreds of people have died in bombings, suicide attacks and commando-style raids by al Qaeda against military and government facilities and foreign nationals.
AQAP's main base has been the mountainous al-Mahfad area in Abyan where militants fled in 2012 after the army, with the help of U.S. drones, ousted them from towns they had seized during the chaotic uprising against then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemeni defence minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed was quoted by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah saying the army's offensive in Shabwa and Abyan had "broken the backbone of the al Qaeda terrorist group and destroyed a number of its strongholds, equipment and weapons".
© Thomson Reuters 2014
RESULT
Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide blasts Fierce clashes between the Yemeni army and al-Qaeda Another army official said the militants also seized heavy
Suicide attack strikes Yemeni Armys Aden headquarters ...
Suicide attack strikes Yemeni Armys Aden which killed at least six soldiers, as many of these terrorist attacks result in heavy losses for the
96 Yemeni soldiers killed in Sanaa suicide blast
96 Yemeni soldiers killed in Sanaa suicide blast fighters and three Yemeni soldiers were killed in the latest fighting around the Yemeni army in
Huge suicide blast kills more than 100 troops in Yemen ...
Huge suicide blast kills more uniform set off a blast that killed more than 100 soldiers troops were killed in the fighting,
6 Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide attack on base | Arab ...
A suicide bomber killed six Yemeni soldiers on Friday in a are increasingly targeting Yemeni Army but said the fighting was
Yemeni army kills seven al Qaeda fighters
Home / News / World / Yemeni army kills died during fighting in the So far around 12 al Qaeda fighters and five Yemeni soldiers have been killed,
Ninety-six soldiers reported killed in Yemen attack RT ...
The death toll from a suicide blast in Yemen has Ninety-six soldiers reported killed in The Yemeni military have been successfully fighting
Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen - Wikipedia, the free ...
A Yemen army air strike has killed at least six suspected al after heavy fighting. Al-Qaeda militants killed 10 Yemeni soldiers in three simultaneous
2012 Abyan offensive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On 12 June the Yemeni army the military moved into the central part of the city where heavy fighting On 16 October a suicide bomber killed six
Five Yemeni soldiers killed in clashes - NOW
Five Yemeni soldiers were killed in fresh fighting six others were wounded in heavy fighting army death toll to at least 135 troops killed
