A booby-trapped car struck a pro-government military base in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa on Monday afternoon, leaving eight soldiers dead, Xinhua News Agency reported.  

The car exploded at the main gate of a pro-government military base in Belhaf area of southeastern Shabwa Province, killing at least eight soldiers and injuring several others at the scene, the military source said on condition of anonymity.

A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives inside the pro-government military base located in Belhaf area.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the US as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa and Abyan provinces.  

Yemen's government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Shiite Houthi rebels for control of the impoverished country.

(Source: Xinhua)