Aden (Yemen), Jan 22 (IANS): Two soldiers of Yemen's government forces were killed and four others injured in an explosion in the country's southeastern oil-rich province of Shabwa, a military official said.

A local military officer told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity on Saturday that an improvised explosive device on the roadside exploded when a motorcade of military vehicles that escorted trucks carrying diesel passed by in the Ar Rawdah district of Shabwa.

The IED, which was planted and remotely detonated by terrorists, also destroyed a military vehicle, the source said.

Security forces and a medical team were sent to the site and carried the wounded soldiers to a nearby hospital for treatment, he noted.

So far, no group has claimed the responsibility for the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula network has exploited years of deadly conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia to expand its presence in the war-ravaged Arab country. It frequently uses hit-and-run tactics against Yemeni government forces while hiding out in rocky terrains and mountainous areas of Abyan and other neighbouring provinces, including Shabwa.