A security official said the raids targeted mountainous areas in Shuuba and Nakh Ain, between the Abyan province towns of Loder and Mudia where eight soldiers were killed last week in ambushes blamed on Al-Qaeda militants.

An elderly man, Fajaa Ahmed Mussaad, was killed and two women were wounded in Shuuba, a medical source at Loder hospital where the casualties were taken told AFP.

He said more casualties were expected to be brought in from a later air strike on Nakh Ain.

Security officials said Al-Qaeda gunmen ambushed a military convoy and killed three soldiers on Saturday, two days after a similar ambush killed five soldiers in the same area of Abyan.

Southern Yemen has seen a growing number of attacks by suspected Al-Qaeda militants, who have taken advantage of popular opposition in the south to the central government in Sanaa.

On Sunday, Yemeni authorities tightened security measures around the British and US embassies in Sanaa after diplomatic missions warned of the heightened risk of attacks.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, faces a growing threat from the global jihadist network's local branch.

earlier related report
Qaeda gunmen kill three Yemeni soldiers: security official
Aden, Yemen (AFP) Oct 16, 2010 - Al-Qaeda gunmen ambushed a military convoy and killed three soldiers in south Yemen on Saturday, a security official said, two days after a similar ambush killed five soldiers in the same region.

"Three soldiers were killed and at least two were wounded when Al-Qaeda ambushed a military convoy ... heading east from Zinjibar (capital of Abyan province) toward the town of Mudia," the official told AFP.

The attackers set off roadside bombs and destroyed two military vehicles, he said.

The defence ministry's website, 26sep.net, reported that two alleged Al-Qaeda suicide bombers were killed when they blew up their car during the attack.

Clashes between the army and "terrorist elements involved in the ambush" left several dead and wounded among the attackers, it said, without giving figures or referring to the army casualties.

The air force responded by carrying out strikes on the attackers to give the convoy cover to continue to Mudia, the official added.

A similar ambush on Thursday killed five people including an officer and wounded eight others near Mudia.

Southern Yemen has seen a growing number of attacks by suspected Al-Qaeda militants, who have taken advantage of popular opposition to the central government.

Meanwhile, Yemeni security services arrested 33-year-old Saleh al-Rimi, "accused of financing al-Qaeda in Yemen," the interior ministry announced on Saturday.

The Yemeni man wanted for allegedly financing Al-Qaeda "resides permanently in Saudi Arabia" was arrested at Sanaa airport upon his arrival from the kingdom on Friday, it said.

The ministry said security services at Sanaa airport on Thursday also arrested Khaled al-Obaidi, who it said was involved in the kidnapping of a Japanese citizen last November.

The Japanese engineer, Takeo Mashimo, was freed on November 24 after being held hostage for nine days by tribesmen near Sanaa.

Tribes in Yemen, an impoverished country awash with weapons and gripped by domestic unrest, often kidnap foreigners to put pressure on local authorities.

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