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(AFP/Khaled Fazaa)
Raids also took place in the capital Sanaa and the neighbouring district of Arhab, to the northeast, a defence ministry official said in a statement carried by the ministry-linked website 26sep.net.
The defence ministry said 13 militants were captured in raids in the capital.
A security official told AFP that authorities "were expecting a large operation by Al-Qaeda in Sanaa," but he did not elaborate.
The defence ministry official said Yemeni security forces, supported by aircraft, also attacked several Al-Qaeda targets in Arhab, where a cell was found preparing suicide attacks on Yemeni and foreign interests.
Four more militants were killed and four others arrested in Arhab, he said in a later statement.
Yemeni security forces targeted a site used as a training camp for Al-Qaeda in the Abyan village of Al-Maajala, some 480 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Sanaa.
"Between 24 and 30 Al-Qaeda militants, including foreigners, were killed while training," the official said.
Witnesses in Al-Maajala told AFP about 50 people were killed in the attack, including an unknown number of civilians in the district which was targeted by air raids involving about 12 jet fighters.
A Human Rights Watch report published earlier in the week accused Yemeni forces of "widespread abuse" against protesters in southern Yemen, including unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions and beatings.
The government slammed HRW on Thursday for being one-sided.
"The content of the report was sadly leaked on the same day the two delegates of HRW held talks (with ministers), keeping all the wrong information derived from the opposition and hostile parties," government spokesman Hassan al-Lawzi was quoted by state news agency Saba as saying.
"It is an immoral behaviour, which should be explained by the organisation," he added.
In recent years, the region of Abyan, part of the former South Yemen republic, has become a regrouping base for Islamist militants, including Arab veterans of the 1980s Afghan war against Soviet occupation.
South Yemen was independent from the time of Britain's pullout in 1967 until the country was united in 1990. The south seceded in 1994, before quickly being vanquished by northern troops.
Separatists are again demanding independence, complaining of discrimination by northerners and a lack of financial aid.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has been the scene of several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
The US has pressured Sanaa to crack down on the group whose presence threatens to turn Yemen into a base for training and plotting attacks, a top US counterterrorism official said in September.
The Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda is believed to have joined forces with militants in Yemen under the banner of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula with the aim of launching attacks in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi member of the group in August blew himself up at an arm's length from the kingdom's deputy interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, after having evaded security measures by claiming he wanted to repent.
The rugged terrain of Yemen, which stretches over 529,000 square kilometres (204,248 square miles), provides ideal cover for armed groups.
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The defence ministry said 13 militants were captured in raids in the capital.
A security official told AFP that authorities "were expecting a large operation by Al-Qaeda in Sanaa," but he did not elaborate.
The defence ministry official said Yemeni security forces, supported by aircraft, also attacked several Al-Qaeda targets in Arhab, where a cell was found preparing suicide attacks on Yemeni and foreign interests.
Four more militants were killed and four others arrested in Arhab, he said in a later statement.
Yemeni security forces targeted a site used as a training camp for Al-Qaeda in the Abyan village of Al-Maajala, some 480 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Sanaa.
"Between 24 and 30 Al-Qaeda militants, including foreigners, were killed while training," the official said.
Witnesses in Al-Maajala told AFP about 50 people were killed in the attack, including an unknown number of civilians in the district which was targeted by air raids involving about 12 jet fighters.
A Human Rights Watch report published earlier in the week accused Yemeni forces of "widespread abuse" against protesters in southern Yemen, including unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions and beatings.
The government slammed HRW on Thursday for being one-sided.
"The content of the report was sadly leaked on the same day the two delegates of HRW held talks (with ministers), keeping all the wrong information derived from the opposition and hostile parties," government spokesman Hassan al-Lawzi was quoted by state news agency Saba as saying.
"It is an immoral behaviour, which should be explained by the organisation," he added.
In recent years, the region of Abyan, part of the former South Yemen republic, has become a regrouping base for Islamist militants, including Arab veterans of the 1980s Afghan war against Soviet occupation.
South Yemen was independent from the time of Britain's pullout in 1967 until the country was united in 1990. The south seceded in 1994, before quickly being vanquished by northern troops.
Separatists are again demanding independence, complaining of discrimination by northerners and a lack of financial aid.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has been the scene of several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
The US has pressured Sanaa to crack down on the group whose presence threatens to turn Yemen into a base for training and plotting attacks, a top US counterterrorism official said in September.
The Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda is believed to have joined forces with militants in Yemen under the banner of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula with the aim of launching attacks in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi member of the group in August blew himself up at an arm's length from the kingdom's deputy interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, after having evaded security measures by claiming he wanted to repent.
The rugged terrain of Yemen, which stretches over 529,000 square kilometres (204,248 square miles), provides ideal cover for armed groups.
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