The armed clashes took place between the army troops and al- Qaida militants across the neighborhoods of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, killing at least six militants, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.
On the same day, fighting broke out around the al-Qaida-held town of Jaar in Abyan, three militants were killed, the military official said.
Meanwhile, a government official told Xinhua anonymously that troops of Yemen's elite Republican Guard force regained control over two strategic sites that overlook the al-Qaida-controlled town of Shakara in Abyan.
A local resident said that "dozens of families have fled their homes on Sunday as the government troops outflanked the coastal town of Shakra."
The country's defense ministry praised the "significant victories made by pro-government militiamen who fight alongside the army troops against the al-Qaida terrorist group in Abyan."
The Yemeni government troops have stepped up military operations in Abyan in order to oust al-Qaida militants who have seized control of large swaths in the restive south during last year.
Government troops and reinforcements of counter-terrorism units assembled by the Yemeni military began last month offensives on al- Qaida bastions in Abyan, which made living conditions of thousands of displaced residents worsened.
Senior leaders of the Yemeni military, with support of U.S. counter-terrorism experts, have vowed to uproot the al-Qaida's regional bases from Yemen.
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