Al-Qa'ida kills 20 soldiers in Yemen attack

Al-Qa'ida militants have staged a surprise attack on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a US drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

It was not immediately clear if the pre-dawn attack on the military base in the southern Abyan province was in retaliation for the death of Fahd al-Quso, a top al-Qa'ida leader on the FBI's most wanted list.

The militants reached the base both from the sea and by land, gunning down troops and making away with weapons and other military hardware after the blitz attack, Yemeni military officials said.

Government forces later shelled militant positions elsewhere in Abyan, killing 16 militants, said the officials.

Yemen has been waging an offensive on al-Qa'ida, whose fighters took advantage of the country's political turmoil during the past year to expand their hold in the south, seizing entire cities and towns and large swathes of land. Abyan's provincial capital of Zinjibar has been held by al-Qa'ida for a year.

The new Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has promised improved co-operation with the US to combat the militants. On Saturday, he said the fight against al-Qa'ida is in its early stages. Mr Hadi took over in February from long-time authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yesterday, al-Quso, the top al-Qa'ida leader, was hit by a missile as he stepped out of his vehicle along with another operative in the southern Shabwa province, Yemeni military officials said.

The drone strike was carried out by the CIA, after an extended surveillance operation by the CIA and US military, two US officials said.

Al-Quso, 37, was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5 million (£3.1 million) reward for information leading to his capture. He was indicted in the US for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the harbour of Aden, Yemen, in which 17 American sailors were killed and 39 injured.

He served more than five years in a Yemeni prison for his role in the attack and was released in 2007. He briefly escaped prison in 2003 but later turned himself in to serve the rest of his sentence.

A telephone text message claiming to be from al-Qa'ida's media arm confirmed al-Quso was killed in the strike.

He was also one of the most senior al-Qa'ida leaders publicly linked to the 2009 Christmas airliner attack and allegedly met in Yemen with the suspected Nigerian bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, before the Nigerian left to execute his failed attack over Detroit with a bomb concealed in his underwear.

In December 2010, al-Quso was designated a global terrorist by the State Department, an indication that his role in al Qaida's Yemen offshoot, al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula, had grown more prominent.