A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into a Yemeni army checkpoint on Friday killing nine soldiers, a military source said, blaming Al Qaeda for the attack.

The attack was mounted near the city of Qoton in southeastern Yemen's vast desert province of Hadramawt where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operates. 

The military source said the dead soldiers were members of an army division loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Hadi was forced out of the country after Houthi rebels last year seized the capital Sanaa and challenged the government's authority.

In March, a Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore the authority of Hadi, who has taken refuge in Riyadh.

AQAP, considered by Washington to be the extremist network's most dangerous franchise, announced the death in June of its Yemen commander, Nasir Al Wuhayshi, in a US drone strike.

The group has taken advantage of the chaos gripping Yemen to make territorial gains in the south, including the seizure of Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, in April.

Meanwhile, Southern Yemeni fighters backed by a Saudi-led air coalition took more territory from Houthi militiamen on Friday, expanding their control around the port city of Aden, sources in the southern force said.

The Southern Resistance retook much of Aden this month.

The resistance, an alliance of southern groups including secessionists seeking an independent south Yemen and army units loyal to Hadi, won full control of Houta town, capital of Lahej province north of Aden, in heavy clashes, the sources said.

They reported 14 Houthis were killed and 40 captured.

Southern fighters and pro-Hadi army units also drove Houthi fighters from Lowdar town in southern Abyan province and captured a number of Houthi fighters, they said.

The coalition said on Thursday said it aimed first to help bring Yemen's government back from exile to Aden and then return it to Sanaa if possible via peace talks with the Houthis.

But if the Houthis did not eventually agree to quit Sanaa, the government would have the right to "get them out" by force, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said in an interview.

Senior members of Yemen's administration in exile flew to Aden on July 16 to make preparations for the government's return there, four months after it was pushed out by Houthi forces.

Asseri said the Houthis ought to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls for the movement to withdraw from cities under their control, return seized arms and allow Hadi to return from his Riyadh exile.

The Houthis have rejected that resolution.

After months of conflict much of the country is suffering severe shortages of fuel, water, food and medicine.

UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien on July 28 said health facilities in Yemen reported more than 4,000 people had been killed and some 19,800 wounded in the war.

Source: Timesofoman