SANAA—Yemeni troops backed by air force planes attacked al Qaeda bastions in the south of the country on Tuesday, April 29, to try to eradicate the Islamist militant group that has killed hundreds of people in Yemen since 2011.

The state news agency Saba said five local al Qaeda leaders, including one identified as Abu al-Qa’qa’, were killed in the fighting. Five Yemeni soldiers were also killed, a local government official said.

Militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its allies in the local Ansar al-Sharia group fled to the mountainous area in 2012 after Yemen’s army, backed by the United States, drove them out of cities they had seized in 2011.

Hundreds of volunteers from a local militia known as the Popular Committees were taking part on the side of the army in the new offensive, mounted less than two weeks after a series of air strikes killed 55 suspected militants in their main hideouts in southern Yemen.

Local news websites have reported that several soldiers were captured by militants in the early stages of the fighting and photos were posted online of men in uniform sitting in the back of a truck, between masked men holding an al-Qaeda banner.

It was not immediately possible to verify the reports.

The militants have carried out dozens of bombings, suicide attacks and commando-style raids against military installations, government facilities and foreign nationals.

On Tuesday, President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters were foreigners.