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ADEN, YEMEN (AFP) — Six suspected al-Qaeda gunmen have been killed in the south Yemen province of Abyan in an air raid by government forces, a local official and a witness said on Tuesday.

The official said the six militants were killed on Monday as Yemeni forces raided several al-Qaeda posts in the area of Arkub, which was overrun Sunday by armed men suspected of belonging to the jihadist network.

al-Qaeda gunmen have seized control of several areas in the lawless Abyan province, including the provincial capital Zinjibar, Jaar, and Shaqra.

Meanwhile, the body of a suspected suicide bomber was torn into pieces when a booby-trapped motorbike he was riding exploded early Tuesday in Lawder, according to tribal sources.

The international community has expressed fears that the power vacuum in the impoverished country could play into the hands of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the local branch of the network.

AQAP was behind several attacks, including the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow a US airliner over Detroit in 2009.