Sana'a: At least 30 Yemen soldiers were killed on Monday morning when Al Qaida-linked group abruptly launched  an attack on a military base in the south a day after  an airstrike killed a senior Al Qaida operative in southern Yemen, local sources said.

Dozens of other soldiers were taken hostage by the attackers.

In apparent reprisal attack  for the death of Al Qaida' leader, Fahed Al Quso,on Sunday, Al Qaida operatives aggressively assaulted a military position in the in the port district of  Dofas near Al Qaida-held city of Zinjebar, Abyan province.

 The attackers managed to capture tanks, cannons and other heavy weapons.

The attack is the third single deadly attack on military troops that try to deter the expansion of militants into other cities in the south since militants controlled on May last year.

Early last month Al Qaida militants launched an assault on an army camp in Abyan province killing at least 200 soldiers and capturing 73 soldiers. The soldiers were freed on April 29.

In Lowder town where local armed civilians are defending their city against Al Qaida attacks, a local resident told Gulf News that militants of Al Qaida-linked Ansar Al Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) randomly bombarded the city following the news of the death of Al Qaida leader.

"Immediately after the death of their leader, they hysterically shelled Lowder, using mortar  ammunition and other kinds of weapons. They spread panic in the city." the resident said.

In his first public speech ,Yemen's new president Abdu Rabuu Mansor Hadi vowed to weed out Al Qaida militants from the country.

"I would like to tell those terrorists who distorted the glorious image of Islam that the real battle hasn't begun yet and will not be over until each district and  village is cleared from them." he said .

Local media sources said last this week that the highly trained counterterrorism squads were sent to the south to fight Al Qaida.

Death of top Al Qaida commander

On Sunday ,a suspected US drone killed Fahed Al Quso, a senior Al Qaida commander in Yemen, and two of his associates and injured five others in the southern province of Shabwa.

"The US drone killed three Al Qaida militants, including Fahed and injured five others. The militants were gathering in Fahe'd farm in Rafadh valley when the airplane struck. "local journalist said . Immediately after the strike, Al Qaida announced Fahed's death.

An eyewitness from the area told Gulf News on Monday that Al Qaida militants buried Fahed and his  friends on Monday morning.

Fahed is one of the senior Al Qaida militants in Yemen. The US has put $5m bounty  for his head for his alleged involvement in the attack that targeted  the US Cole destroyer in the Gulf of Aden in 2000 when 17 US marines were killed.

Fahed and many other Al Qaida members escaped prison in 2003 and had survived many assassination attempts on his life. Fahed was a member of tribe of Anwar Al Awlaki, the US-born cleric who was   killed in an American drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011.

Big loss to Al Qaida

Terrorism experts in Yemen are almost unanimous that with the death Fahed Al Quso, the Al Qaida offshoot in the troubled country has sustained a big loss.

"Fahed is as important as other leaders of Al Qaida like Nasser Al Wihishi and Qassem Al Raimi. His death is a painful blow to Al Qaida. He was one of AQAP leaders who fought along with Usma Bin Laden in the mountain of Tora Bora in Afghanistan," said Nabail Al Bukiri, Islamic sects expert.

Nabail thinks that president Hadi made his strong commitment to defeat Al Qaida when he changed  many security chiefs who are involving in liaising with Al Qaida.

"President Hadi released that he can't fight Al Qaida when those chiefs are in office, so he dismissed them and then publically announced that he would crush Al Qaida."

Al Qaida fighters have taken  advantage of the country's political turmoil during the past year to seize control of many cities in the lawless province of Abyan. Militants also control the town of Azzan in the province of Shabwa.

Foreign hostages to be released

A senior security official in Yemen said on Sunday that the two foreign hostages in the south would be freed within two days, the news website of ministry of defence reported.

General Mohammed Abdullah Al Gusi, the undersecretary of ministry of interior, stated  the Saudi diplomat, Abdullah Al Khaledi and the Swiss teacher would be released within 48 hours.

The two hostages are reportedly  to be in Al Qaida's custody Al Qaida's strongholds in the south.

Two weeks ago, an influential tribal leader in the south announced that the Saudi Arabian diplomat was in good health and could be released within "hours", but the man was not released on time.

Mediators said then that there were close to receive him when an air strike disrupted the handover.

Following his capture on March, Al Qaida in Yemen threatened to kill him if his country didn't swap him with Al Qaida prisoners in the kingdom.