SANAA
An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group said Sunday it had killed 31 Shiite Houthi militants in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwah.
Ansar al-Shariah militant group said on Twitter that its fighters killed 21 Houthis in an attack with heavy weaponry and tanks in Ataq, capital city of Shabwah.
Ten others were killed in an attack that targeted a Houthi vehicle in Nassab district in the same province, it added.
The Houthi group is yet to comment on Ansar al-Shariah's assertions.
The Yemeni government says Al-Qaeda remains active in several parts of the country's south, from which it stages sporadic attacks on security personnel and Houthi militants.
Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence southward to other parts of the country.
On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive military campaign targeting Houthi positions across Yemen.
Riyadh says its air campaign comes in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention against the Houthis.
Hadi fled to Riyadh in March after Houthi forces attacked his residence in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, from which he had hoped to reinstate his embattled presidency.
