Three Yemeni soldiers were killed Tuesday when a group of Al-Qaeda militants exchanged fire with a military checkpoint in the southeastern province of Hadramout, a government official told Xinhua.

The Al-Qaeda gunmen in a truck exchanged fire with the army at the checkpoint in the eastern suburbs of Hadramout province, killing at least three soldiers, the local official said on condition of anonymity.

The gunmen fled the scene and security forces are combing the area in search of them, the official said.

In another attack, about five soldiers were injured when their military vehicle touched off an improvised explosive device on the roadside in the Ghail Bawazir region of Hadramout.

The attack is the latest in a string of bombings and killings targeting senior Yemeni military and security officers and some foreigners in the last few months.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but militants of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda offshoot are often behind such attacks and assassination attempts, mostly in the country's southern regions.

The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in January 2009, is considered as the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and its neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

The AQAP claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks on Yemen 's defense ministry, which left 52 people dead and more than 167 injured.