Senior leaders of the Ansar al-Sharia group of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Jaar city ordered the release of 29 soldiers following mediation efforts by high-profile tribal chiefs on behalf of the soldiers' families, the al-Qaida source said on condition of anonymity.
The soldiers were freed after they pledged not to resume fighting with al-Qaida, the source said.
However, local military officials told Xinhua anonymously that "we have no information about the al-Qaida reports."
On April 29, the al-Qaida group freed 73 Yemeni soldiers it captured during an offensive against an army base in Abyan province after mediation by tribal elders and senior clerics.
Hundreds of militants from the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, locally known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), are attempting to expand their foothold and take control over the county's southern regions where the central authority has almost no presence.
The Yemeni armed forces with support of U.S. military advisers have recently increased attacks against al-Qaida bastions in southern regions, as part of an offensive to uproot the terrorists from areas they overran during the one-year political turmoil in Yemen.
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